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LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Bellarmine University baseball team is set for its first ASUN road series of 2022 as the Knights will head to new league member Eastern Kentucky for a three-game series.

First pitch between the Knights (3-17, 1-2 ASUN) and Colonels (14-8, 2-1) is slated for 5 p.m. (ET) Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday at Earle Combs Stadium.

Bellarmine and Eastern Kentucky will be meeting for the first time as ASUN rivals. The Knights are in their second season in the conference, while the Colonels are in their inaugural year in the league. Bellarmine and EKU did meet one time last season, with the Colonels capturing a 3-2 home win on May 11 just after ASUN play had ended for the Knights.

ABOUT EKU
Eastern Kentucky opened ASUN play by taking two of three on the road at North Alabama. The Colonels captured the first two games, 8-6 and 7-4, before dropping the finale, 10-1. EKU followed with a 6-2 midweek home win over Northern Kentucky. The Colonels built a seven-game winning streak earlier this month.

Five starters for Eastern Kentucky are hitting .286 or higher, led by the .303 of Conner Davis. Will King boasts team highs of five home runs, eight doubles and 26 RBIs. Will Brian was selected as the ASUN Preseason All-Conference relief pitcher and has already amassed eight saves with a 1.46 ERA. Probable Game 1 and 2 starters Michael Schuler (5.19 ERA) and Rese Brown (5.66 ERA) have notched two wins apiece, while probable Game 3 starter Rian Yates carries the top ERA (4.50) among the trio.

BELLARMINE NOTES
• Bellarmine went 1-2 in its first ASUN series. The Knights opened conference play with a 4-2 win over Central Arkansas, but the Bears took the last two games of the series, 15-9 and 10-6, behind three separate five-run innings.
• Before last weekend's ASUN-opening series against UCA at home, 16 of Bellarmine's first 17 games unfolded away from Knights Field. In that span, Bellarmine opened the year with neutral-site games against Virginia and NJIT in Gardner-Webb's Jerry Bryson Classic and played 14 true road games. The Knights have faced four teams that made the 2021 NCAA Tournament in Virginia, NJIT, Southeast Missouri State and Presbyterian. In addition, Virginia, Kentucky, Purdue and Louisville have been Power 5 opponents.
• Matt Higgins had a homer, two doubles and three RBIs in the UCA series. The senior left fielder ranks sixth on both the program's all-time home run list with 28 (one shy of fifth) and RBI list with 142 (seven shy of fifth) and is ninth in doubles with 46 (two shy of eighth).
• Nolan Pender, the probable starter in Game 1, earned the win in Bellarmine's lone victory in the Central Arkansas series. The junior righthander had a season-high seven strikeouts in a season-best 8.0 innings pitched while allowing two earned runs.
• Bellarmine has stolen 30 bases in 32 attempts for a success rate of 93.8 percent. Higgins leads the way at a perfect 9-for-9, while senior center fielder Jack Ockerman is 7-for-8 and senior shortstop Clayton Mehlbauer is 5-for-5.
• Senior right fielder Jacob Mulcahy has reached base in 18 consecutive games, which is tops on the team this season.
• Mehlbauer has collected multiple hits in nearly half of the team's games this season. After notching two hits in the series finale against UCA, the Knights' leadoff man has nine multi-hit games on the year, including a pair of three-hit outings.

SCHEDULE UPDATES
Bellarmine had a pair of schedule changes this week. The Knights' postponed Tuesday contest at Eastern Illinois has been rescheduled for April 5. Bellarmine has also added an April 19 road game at Tennessee, the first of two times the Knights are now slated to play the Vols.

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