SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — The Bellarmine University baseball team's first game in the DII NCAA Tournament had a very similar ending to its last game in the GLVC Tournament.

The second-seeded Knights put themselves in a promising position to tie — or possibly rally past — seventh-seeded Southern Indiana in the final inning before coming up short as the Screaming Eagles captured a 9-7 victory in the NCAA Midwest Regional at Robin Roberts Stadium.

Bellarmine will meet Northwood in an elimination game at 2:30 p.m. (ET) Friday.

The final inning between Bellarmine (37-18) and Southern Indiana (33-21) ended up being the 12th. The Screaming Eagles scored a pair of runs against senior reliever Duncan Amrein (3-1) in the top half of the inning.

Bellarmine had surged back to tie after facing a 6-1 hole, and the Knights looked like they might erase another deficit in the 12th after they loaded the bases with no outs against Kyle Griffin (6-3) on walks to freshman first baseman Jacob Mulcahy and senior left fielder Griffin Neuer that sandwiched a single from junior right fielder Zac Wiley.

Griffin piled up 10 strikeouts in 5.0 innings of relief, the last of which marked the first out. What followed was eerily similar to the GLVC Tournament when freshman Matt Higgins rifled a line drive right at Quincy's second baseman for the final out in an elimination game. If the ball had traveled a few feet either way, Bellarmine likely would have won.

Against USI, senior second baseman Alex Ralph whistled a line drive right back at Griffin, who managed to deflect the laser with his glove. The potential two-run single was slowed down enough that the Screaming Eagles' shortstop, ranging toward second, was set up perfectly for a 6-3 double play to end the tense affair.

There were some exciting moments for Bellarmine. Neuer cranked his team-best 12th homer of the season in the fifth, a two-run blast that followed Mulcahy's RBI single and senior shortstop Drew Greenwood's leadoff double.

In the seventh, with Bellarmine down 6-4, Wiley pummeled a pitch off the top of the scoreboard for a go-ahead three-run homer. It was his ninth long ball of the season.

Southern Indiana tied it at 7 in the eighth, but the offenses were held in check in the latter innings due to Griffin and Bellarmine's Brandon Pfaadt, a freshman right-hander who allowed a single run on two hits with eight strikeouts in 5.0 innings of relief. Pfaadt set the tone for his performance by fanning USI's Nos. 3-4-5 hitters in order in the sixth.

Wiley went 3 for 6 with three RBIs. Greenwood, Mulcahy and junior center fielder Alex Phillips had two hits each. Junior designated hitter Jacob Pendred had an RBI single.

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