LOUISVILLE, Ky. — His role is that of a relief pitcher. "Unlikely hero" was the better description Wednesday at Knights Field.

Pressed into a tense situation, Bellarmine University freshman left-hander Nick Parrish displayed veteran poise, retiring the final two batters to preserve a 7-5 victory over a revitalized Indianapolis in the tail end of a doubleheader after the Greyhounds won the opener 6-5 in Great Lakes Valley Conference play.

Bellarmine (18-14, 9-8 GLVC) got untracked offensively late in the second game after uncommon struggles at the plate over the majority of the doubleheader against Indianapolis (17-11, 10-7). A fantastic start by junior left-hander Shane Barringer kept the Greyhounds at bay in the tail end.

Game 1: Indianapolis 6, Bellarmine 5
Bellarmine rallied to knot the contest at 5 in the sixth inning, but Indianapolis scored the go-ahead run — and what ended up as the winning run — on a wild pitch in the eighth inning.

Bellarmine had its chances in the ninth after sophomore left fielder Matt Higgins and senior right fielder Zac Wiley had consecutive singles with one out. However, the Greyhounds followed with a strikeout and the Knights, and Chris Gambert in particular, had unfortunate luck as the junior catcher rifled a line drive but right at the UIndy shortstop for a game-ending out.

Bellarmine had strong relief pitching, as freshman right-hander Reece Davis, junior right-hander Anthony Ethington and sophomore right-hander Brandon Pfaadt combined to allow one earned run in 7.0 innings. Indianapolis did as well, as four relievers combined to allow one earned run over the final 6.0 frames.

UIndy scored four runs in the second and took a 5-1 lead after the top of the third, but Bellarmine scored twice in the bottom half and once in the fifth and sixth to tie it at 5. The Knights managed to score five runs with only five hits. The Greyhounds walked nine and hit one batter; Bellarmine left nine on base.

Phillips had a pair of hits and Higgins had a pair of RBIs.

Game 2: Bellarmine 7, Indianapolis 5
Things got very hairy for Bellarmine after it looked like the Knights would cruise to victory after building a 7-2 lead heading into the ninth and getting the first batter out in the last frame.

Indianapolis had other ideas and started pounding the ball. The Greyhounds homered, singled and had three consecutive doubles. Seemingly out of nowhere, they were within 7-5 and had runners on second and third with one out.

That's when Coach Larry Owens called upon Parrish, who came on for the sixth appearance of his "rookie" season. Parrish struck out Nick Carpinelli, who had homered in his previous at-bat, and shrugged off a walk to extinguish UIndy's comeback bid with a strikeout of pinch hitter Jake Perreira. It marked Parrish's first collegiate save, and it was a memorable one.

Parrish also made sure that Barringer (2-1) got a much-deserved win. He allowed just one run on six hits with three strikeouts in 7.0 innings.

Bellarmine broke up a scoreless game with three runs in the fourth. Indianapolis walked in two of those runs. A sharp single by senior first baseman Tyler Neeley followed by an error in the outfield on the same play led to the other run.

UIndy wasn't doing itself any favors in the fourth, and that was also true of Bellarmine's three-run seventh where none of the runs scored were earned. The Knights capitalized on an inning that was extended because of an error as sophomore shortstop Clayton Mehlbauer drilled a two-run triple off the right center wall, and senior designated hitter Derek Burns added an RBI single for a 6-1 lead.

Burns' run-scoring hit proved to be the winning run. Wiley's sacrifice fly in the eighth to give Bellarmine a 7-2 lead seemed like window dressing at the time, but it had the chance to be a critical run.

Bellarmine finished with 11 hits. Gambert went 3 for 3 while Higgins, Mehlbauer and Burns had two each.

Bellarmine plays a three-game series Saturday and Sunday at Lewis, with the doubleheader occurring on the first day. First pitch is slated for 1 p.m. (ET) both days.

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GAME 1 BOX SCORE (HTM)
GAME 2 BOX SCORE (HTM)