CHARLESTON, SC — The Bellarmine University baseball team fought valiantly but ultimately couldn't overcome Charleston Southern's immense scoring output in the opening two innings in a 12-8 loss Saturday at CSU Ballpark.

Charleston Southern (8-1) clinched the series against Bellarmine (0-9) after also winning the opener. The Knights outhit the Buccaneers 14-12 and racked up six doubles.

Unfortunately for BU, Charleston Southern piled up six runs in the first inning and matched Bellarmine with four in the second. The Knights got stellar relief pitching from senior right-handers Blake Donnan and Mike Sokol, but the damage was too extensive to overcome, although they did have the tying run on deck when the final out was made.

Bellarmine scored four runs on five hits in the second inning, with four of the knocks being doubles from freshman first baseman Christian Kiper, junior second baseman Garrett Rusch, junior right fielder Joey Milto and junior left fielder Eli Watson.

Bellarmine scored two runs apiece in the fifth and the sixth. In the former, Kiper followed a double by junior designated hitter Brady Morse with a two-run double. In the latter, Morse drove in one of the runs with an RBI single.

Charleston Southern kept Bellarmine off the board in the last three innings. The Bucs scored only two runs after the second inning.

Donnan faced the minimum in 3.0 shutout innings of relief while racking up a Bellarmine career high of five strikeouts. Sokol followed with 3.0 effective innings, yielding a single earned run.

Kiper went 3-for-4 with two doubles and two RBI. Watson, Morse and senior center fielder Casey Sorg notched two hits apiece.

The series finale is set for 1 p.m. (ET) Sunday.

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