LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Bellarmine University baseball team ended Liberty's 13-game winning streak in Saturday's opener with an 8-7 victory before the Flames captured the tail end of a doubleheader with a 5-1 win in ASUN action at Knights Field.
With an ominous weather forecast for Sunday, Bellarmine (8-13, 4-5 ASUN) and Liberty (16-6, 5-1) played a twin bill.
GAME 1: Bellarmine 8, Liberty 7
Bellarmine trailed 6-2 after four innings, but the Knights cut the lead to one in the fifth after junior shortstop
Clayton Mehlbauer blasted his fourth homer, a three-run shot to the opposite field.
Bellarmine overtook Liberty with another three-run frame in the sixth. Senior catcher
Patrick Arndt singled and senior third baseman
Josh Finerty doubled. The Knights scored on a wild pitch and then a sacrifice fly by senior left fielder
Chris Gambert. They added another run when junior pinch hitter
Matt Higgins walked with the bases loaded.
Senior left-hander
Shane Barringer (2-3) tossed the first 6.0 innings and earned the win. Senior right-hander
Anthony Ethington fired the last 3.0, collecting his second save after allowing a single run and holding off the Flames with the tying run on second in the ninth.
Both teams scored twice in the first. Bellarmine evened things up in the bottom half on RBI singles by Gambert and senior second baseman
Justin Rouse.
Finerty and Gambert both notched three hits in the opener.
GAME 2: Liberty 5, Bellarmine 1
This contest was largely a pitchers' duel between Liberty's Trey Gibson and senior right-hander
Jacob Nagel.
Gibson (4-2) was one out shy of tossing a complete game, as he allowed one run on seven hits with nine strikeouts in 8.2 innings pitched. Nagel allowed two runs in the first and three in the ninth — four of the runs were earned — but in between he fired 7.0 shutout innings.
Nagel's 8.2 innings pitched and eight strikeouts were both career highs. The righty is one of Bellarmine's primary relievers but was called upon for the start in the finale against the Flames.
Bellarmine scored its lone run in the sixth on an RBI single by Finerty. Sophomore center fielder
Robert Sproul tallied two of the Knights' seven hits.
Bellarmine will play at 6:30 p.m. (ET) Tuesday at Kentucky.
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Game 1 Box Score (HTM)
Game 2 Box Score (HTM)
