LOUISVILLE, Ky.— Bellarmine rounded out its ASUN-opening series against Jacksonville with a 6-1 loss at Knights Field on Sunday afternoon.
Jacksonville (9-13, 3-0) used early runs and excellent pitching to push out to an immediate advantage and never looked back. Bellarmine (8-21, 0-3) found a groove at the plate late, but was unable to cash in for runs.
Bellarmine found itself in a pair of early jams, but held the Dolphins to just one run in each of the first and second innings. In the second, JU had the bases loaded with no outs, but
Megan Murphy struck out two consecutive batters. A hit by pitch, brought home a run, but Murphy induced a fly out to quickly end the inning.
Jacksonville pushed its lead from 2-0 to 5-0 in the fourth inning. Three singles and three walks was the recipe for success, as Jacksonville continuously fouled pitches off and dug deep into counts.
After another Dolphins run in the fifth inning, Bellarmine picked up its first run in the home half of the fifth.
Chloe Collins started the inning with a missile of a home run to left field. It was Collins' second home run in the last three games and her fourth in the last eight games. That cut the lead to 6-1, and the Knights started to put more runners on base.
Emily O'Dee and
Carley Ziegler singled and doubled respectively, but Bellarmine was unable to bring them home in BU's best chance to claw back in the game.
Collins paced Bellarmine with two hits, while Ziegler, O'Dee, Shipley, and
Grace Werner also picked up hits.
Claire Lehmkuhler started the game for Bellarmine in the circle, but Murphy entered after the first inning.
Carson Goatley pitched the final 3.1 innings for the Knights. Shelby Harpe earned her third win of the season for Jacksonville.
Bellarmine stays home for its midweek matchups against Marshall on Tuesday. The Knights face the Thundering Herd at 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday at Knights Field.
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