LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Bellarmine Knights split a doubleheader for the fourth straight time today, pulling off a come-from-behind 9-8 victory over Drury in the opener before the Panthers got a great pitching performance in the tail end to hold off the Knights 3-2.
 
Bellarmine found itself in quite hole in game one as Drury struck for four runs in its first at-bat then tacked on two more in the top of the third as the lead swelled to 6-0.
 
The Knights started fighting back in the home half of the third.  Joelle Zielinski led off with a single, and after a Drury error, Hannah Webb singled to load the bases.  Rachel Ayer hit a grounder to shortstop that was misplayed, allowing two runs to score. Samantha Smith then doubled home Ayer and Webb. Smith advanced to third on Allison Woosley's fly ball to deep right field and scored on Sydney Oskin's grounder to second.  When the dust settled on the inning, Bellarmine had closed the gap to 6-5.
 
However, the Panthers went right back to work in the fourth, banging out two more runs on three hits.  Bellarmine got one of those runs back in the bottom of the inning as Grace Werner led off with a triple and scored on Ayer's sac fly to make the score 8-6.
 
Natalie Magnus came on in relief to start the fifth.  Although she started with a walk on four pitches, she got the "pitcher's best friend" when she induced a double play on her next pitch and recorded a strikeout to end the inning.
 
In the bottom of the frame, Magnus again was in the spotlight.  After Sabrina Fussenegger walked to open the inning, Magnus came to the plate and crushed a 2-2 offering well over the centerfield fence for her first career homer while tying the game at eight apiece.
 
In the top of the sixth, the first two Drury batters recorded infield singles, but Magnus worked out of the minor jam to keep the game tied.
 
Bellarmine went two-up and two-down to start their sixth inning, but Woosley came through in the clutch by uncorking a towering home run to left to give the Knights their first lead of the game at 9-8.
 
Magnus closed the door on the Panthers in the seventh, surrendering just a two-out walk before recording the pitching victory.
 
While game one was an entertaining, high-scoring affair, the second game was a classic pitchers' duel.  In fact, the game was scoreless through the first five innings with the game's lone hit coming in the second inning when Drury's Serenity Healy hit grounder between third and short.
 
The shutout finally came to an end in the sixth, albeit without the assistance of a hard-hit ball. A pair of singles—one a grounder up the middle and the other a looper to center field—combined with a walk, a sacrifice bunt and a wild pitch led to two Drury runs as the Panthers took a 2-0 lead.
 
The Knights still were without a hit heading to the bottom of the sixth, but Werner drew a leadoff walk, and Webb followed by ripping a 1-0 offering over the fence in left.  The round-tripper was not only Bellarmine's first hit of the game, it also was the freshman's first collegiate homer.
 
The Panthers scored the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly to deep left, but the Knights were able to keep the margin at one as Woosley, BU's left fielder, gunned down a runner at home to end the inning.
 
Although Fussenegger was hit by the first pitch in the bottom of the seventh, Drury pitcher Kasey Cazares didn't make any more mistakes, recording three straight outs to pick up the pitching victory and a complete-game, one-hitter.
 
With the split, Bellarmine moves to 20-21 on the season and 9-11 in the GLVC.  Drury now stands 29-14, 10-8 GLVC).
 
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GAME 1 BOX SCORE (HTM)
 
GAME 2 BOX SCORE (HTM)