GREENVILLE, Tenn. — The insurance provided by
Zac Wiley's home run and
Griffin Neuer's return to the relief corps were critical to the Bellarmine University baseball team's 7-6 victory over Tusculum on Tuesday night at Pioneer Park.
Bellarmine (16-7) won for the 10th time in 12 games but closing out Tusculum (16-16) proved to be difficult even after Wiley's solo homer in the eighth elevated the Knights' lead to 7-2. The Pioneers scored once in the bottom half, but initially it appeared they'd go quietly in the ninth as senior right-hander
Yancey Pritchett recorded two quick outs.
That didn't happen. Four straight batters faced their final strike, and none of them succumbed. The first two drew walks on 3-2 counts, and the third, Trey Hinton, delivered an RBI single on an 0-2 count. Pinch hitter Colby Skeen then found himself down 1-2 before barely missing a game-tying three-run homer, as he settled for a two-run triple off the wall in right.
With the score now 7-6, Neuer entered from left field to relieve Pritchett. The senior right-hander didn't pitch last season and logged only 7.2 innings as a sophomore, but his value on the mound was evident against Tusculum as he punched out John Bennett on a called third strike on a 2-2 count to extinguish the rally and notch his first save this season.
Wiley's long ball, his second in as many days, proved to be the difference. The junior right fielder smashed a drive over the center-field fence in the eighth for his third homer of the season.
Neuer blasted a solo shot in the fourth for his sixth homer of the season. Senior shortstop
Drew Greenwood followed in the same inning with a two-run double as Bellarmine led 4-1. The Knights added a run each in the fifth and sixth, the latter on an RBI single by junior third baseman
Josh Finerty.
Neuer finished 2 for 2 with three walks. Senior catcher
Brady Pfaadt was 2 for 3 with two walks. Wiley went 3 for 5 and Greenwood, junior first baseman
Jacob Pendred and sophomore center fielder
Bobby Brokamp chipped in two hits each.
Senior right-hander
Duncan Amrein (2-0) earned the win after striking out four and allowing one earned run in 3.1 innings of relief. Junior left-hander
Alex Phillips started and yielded one earned run in 4.2 innings.
Bellarmine plays at 1 p.m. (ET) Wednesday at Tusculum.
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