LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Bellarmine baseball continued its ASUN Conference series against Central Arkansas on Saturday afternoon, showing resilience at the plate throughout the day before falling 14-7 in Game 2 at Knights Field. With the result, the Knights fall to 17-25 (9-11 ASUN), while Central Arkansas improves to 25-19 (12-8 ASUN).
After dropping Friday's series opener, the Knights looked to respond and did so with a more consistent offensive showing, scoring in five different innings in the middle frames.
After falling behind 7-0 through three innings, Bellarmine's offense broke through in the fourth inning when Eli Watson delivered an RBI double to get the Knights on the board and cut the deficit to 7-1. The Knights added two more in the fifth, as Nick Gnardellis and Landon Akers set the table before Cole Huett and AJ Swader each drove in runs to trim the deficit to 7-3.
The offensive momentum continued into the sixth on a Connor Pawlowski sacrifice fly, making it 7-4, but Central Arkansas responded in the seventh with a multi-run inning to extend its lead to 11-4. Bellarmine answered in the bottom half of the inning with RBIs from Sawyer Pace and Luke Scales. The Knights added another run in the eighth when Akers delivered his second double of the day to score Luca Hoerger, cutting it to 12-7.
Akers and Swader each recorded two hits to lead the Knights, while Watson, Scales, Pace and Pawlowski all contributed RBIs.
On the mound, Deaton Oak made the start and worked through five innings, while Evan Hart, Presley Monteforte and Drew Jennings each saw action out of the bullpen.
Bellarmine will look to close out the series against Central Arkansas on Sunday (1 pm ET) at Knights Field.
For more coverage of Bellarmine athletics, follow @BUKnights on X, Instagram and Facebook.
