LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Bellarmine University baseball team will host its second ASUN series of the season when the Knights welcome Lipscomb for contests at 2 p.m. (ET) Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday.

Bellarmine (3-21, 1-5 ASUN) and Lipscomb (12-13, 1-5) will be meeting in their third ASUN series since the Knights joined the conference — and Division I — last season. Lipscomb captured both series in 2021, winning two of three each time in holding a 4-2 overall series lead.

ABOUT LIPSCOMB
Like Bellarmine, Lipscomb has started ASUN play 1-5. The Bisons did win their most recent conference game and avoided a sweep with a 3-0 road win at Central Arkansas. UCA captured the first two contests 2-0 and 6-0. Lipscomb was swept at home by Jacksonville State in its opening series in ASUN action, falling 10-1, 6-4 and 6-3.

Malik Williams leads Lipscomb in several offensive categories, including batting average (.340), home runs (five) and RBIs (27). Rudy Maxwell is hitting .299 with three homers, nine doubles and 20 RBIs. Five regulars are hitting .280 or higher, five have at least three home runs and seven have registered at least 10 RBIs.

Lipscomb's pitching staff was exceptional in the Central Arkansas series, allowing eight total runs over the three games. Michael Dunkelberger (2-1, 3.32 ERA), Noah Thompson (2-1, 4.66) and Ike Buxton (2-2, 3.48) comprised the starting rotation in the series. The Bisons' relievers combined to allow a single run in 9.0 innings of work.

BELLARMINE NOTES
• Bellarmine won its conference opener 4-2 over Central Arkansas but has since lost five straight, dropping the last two at home to the Bears before getting swept at Eastern Kentucky last weekend.
• In the series finale at Eastern Kentucky, Bellarmine tied its season high for runs (13), homers (three) and doubles (four).
• Head Coach Larry Owens is only eight victories shy of becoming the winningest coach in program history. He's looking to surpass the 211 of Deron Spink.
• Bellarmine has stolen 31 bases in 34 attempts for a success rate of 91.2 percent. Senior left fielder Matt Higgins leads the way at 9-for-9, senior shortstop Clayton Mehlbauer is 6-for-6 and senior center fielder Jack Ockerman is 7-for-8.
• With 28 career homers, Higgins is one long ball shy of tying Austin Crutcher for fifth on the program's all-time list. He's also four RBIs from tying Griffin Neuer (149) for fifth all-time. Higgins' 48 career doubles are tied for eighth in the record book, while his 211 hits are 12th.
• In the second game of the series at Eastern Kentucky, Gavin Braunecker, the probable Game 2 starter, threw the second complete game in the D1 era for Bellarmine. In the 2-0 loss, the sophomore lefthander tossed 8.0 innings while allowing two runs on five hits and two walks with six strikeouts.
• Senior right fielder Jacob Mulcahy has reached base in a team-high 22 consecutive games.
• Gabe Bratetic has hit safely in 13 of 15 games played this season. With 16 hits, the junior catcher already has four times as many as he did last season (four). His five doubles and two homers have doubled previous career totals.
• Ockerman has already set new career highs in hits (25) and runs scored (15) while tying a career best with seven steals. He went 5-for-9 in the Eastern Kentucky series.
• Reliever Zac Common is coming off the best performance of his career. The sophomore righthander tossed a career-high 4.1 innings and did not allow a run Tuesday against Butler.

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