LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Bellarmine University baseball team captured its first-ever ASUN win in its inaugural ASUN home game, posting a 9-4 victory over North Alabama on Friday afternoon at Knights Field.
Senior third baseman
Josh Finerty smashed a pair of homers and senior left fielder
Chris Gambert added another for Bellarmine (5-10, 1-3 ASUN), which tallied 11 hits and cracked the win column in league play after a big nonconference victory Tuesday at Western Kentucky.
Senior right-hander
Deylen Miley (3-2) earned the win after striking out eight while allowing four runs on five hits in 6.0 innings. Senior right-hander
Jacob Nagel collected a save after tossing 3.0 scoreless innings.
Although North Alabama (1-14, 0-4) is struggling, starting pitcher Hunter Davidson entered the game with a 1.45 ERA over three starts. Bellarmine registered six of its runs — five earned — and eight of its hits against Davidson (0-2), who went 5.0 innings.
Gambert got Bellarmine's offense going early, when he followed a single by junior shortstop
Clayton Mehlbauer by cranking his fourth home run of the season, a two-run blast to center. Finerty went deep in the second to provide the Knights a 4-2 lead, senior catcher
Patrick Arndt stretched it to 5-2 with an RBI double in the third and freshman designated hitter
Tommy Dilz boosted it to 6-2 with an RBI single in the fifth.
After North Alabama cut its deficit to 6-4 in the sixth, Finerty led off the bottom of the inning by drilling his second homer of the game and third of the season, a no-doubter to left. Freshman first baseman
Davis Crane added an RBI single in the frame to bump Bellarmine's advantage to 8-4, and Gambert capped the scoring in the eighth with a sacrifice fly.
Finerty finished 3-for-5 with two RBIs and three runs scored, Crane went 3-for-4 and Gambert tallied two hits and three RBIs.
Bellarmine will host North Alabama in the second of the three-game series at 2 p.m. Saturday.
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