FLORENCE, Ala. — The Bellarmine University baseball team nearly pulled off a miraculous comeback Sunday before North Alabama escaped with a 12-10 victory to clinch an ASUN series sweep at Mike Lane Field.
North Alabama (12-37, 5-22 ASUN) led 10-0 before Bellarmine (11-39, 8-19) mounted a late-inning comeback. After scoring four runs in the seventh and three in the eighth, the Knights entered the final frame trailing 12-9.
Sophomore first baseman
Davis Crane and senior shortstop
Clayton Mehlbauer smacked consecutive doubles to open the inning, the latter cutting the deficit to two. Bellarmine would load the bases with two outs, but North Alabama locked up the sweep by inducing a game-ending ground out.
UNA scored three runs in the first, five in the second and two in the third to build the 10-0 lead, and the Lions led 11-2 after six innings. Senior left fielder
Matt Higgins and sophomore designated hitter
Ashton Smith had consecutive RBI singles in the seventh, Crane knocked in a run and Smith scored on a wild pitch as the Knights came alive.
Bellarmine kept coming in the eighth, further eating away at the deficit to make it 12-9. Higgins pulverized a three-run homer to right while spiking his single-season program-record total to 21 and his program-record career tally to 44. He went 3-for-5 with four RBI.
The massive early deficit ultimately proved too much to overcome as North Alabama collected 15 hits. Drew Hudson hit for the cycle for UNA. Luke Harper, a catcher who pitched the ninth and earned the save, had his second four-hit game of the series.
In addition to Higgins, junior second baseman
Dylan Byerly also had a multi-hit game with two. Junior righthander
Ryan Johnson helped the Knights stay afloat with 3.0 strong innings of relief, allowing only one run. Freshman righthander
Casey Sorg followed with a scoreless frame.
Bellarmine will host Western Kentucky at 3 p.m. (ET) Tuesday.
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