EVANSVILLE, Ind. -  The 17th-ranked UIndy baseball team (42-14) dismissed Northern Kentucky, 4-3, in the 2012 Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament championship game Sunday, held at Bosse Field in Evansville, Ind.  With the tying run on third base in the bottom of the eighth, the Greyhounds stifled a Norse rally to take the league title in NKU's final season in the conference.

With the Norse (35-19) on their way to Division I and the Atlantic Sun Conference next year, the Greyhounds seized NKU's final chance at a GLVC Tournament title.  The win, UIndy's fourth in five meetings with the Norse this season, gave Indianapolis its fifth conference championship this spring, part of a league-high seven on the year.

In a rematch of the 2009 conference final, Head Coach Gary Vaught gave the ball to senior Patrick Kraft.  The New Palestine, Ind., native didn't disappoint, as he held the potent NKU offense to just one run on six hits and one walk.  Kraft peppered 54 strikes in his 72 pitches, good for a lofty 75-percent strike rate.

One day after Phil Wheeler's no-hitter, Kraft delivered the fifth consecutive quality start for UIndy.  The Greyhound starters combined to allow just one earned run in the previous 32 innings pitched, while the staff as a whole finished with a 2.37 in six GLVC Tourney games.

After stranding 50 runners in the last four games, the Hounds continued that trend early in the game before finally breaking through in the fourth inning.  UIndy put two runners on base in each of the first three innings and came away scoreless, but timely at bats by Mike Page (RBI single) and Matt Maringer (sacrifice fly) in the fourth put the Hounds up 2-0.

UIndy kept the pressure on NKU starter Drew Campbell in the fourth, as Jake Hartley coaxed a two-out walk to load the bases.  The result forced to Norse to go to the 'pen, calling on workhorse Brett Loeding.

Loeding, who leads the GLVC in appearances and innings pitched, induced a groundout to limit the damage to two runs.

After the Norse pushed across a single tally in the fifth inning, UIndy answered with two more in the eighth.  Page earned another ribbie with a single through the right side to score Ryan Wides, while Hartley drove the ball to center for a sac fly that plated Scott Lawley.

Junior hurler Hugo Lalonde came out for the bottom of the eighth but failed to record an out, surrendering two walks and hit before being pulled in favor of Donovan Drake.

With the scoreboard now reading 4-2 Hounds, Drake took the mound with the bases loaded and one out.  The GLVC Pitcher of the Year retired each of the six batters he faced to earn his first career save, making a winner out of Kraft (2-0) and a champion out of the Greyhounds.

Page, Scott Mourey, Tyler O'Daniel, and Adam Rusche each had two hits on the day.  All four runs were scored by the Greyhounds' seventh, eighth and ninth hitters.

UIndy's current season is looking more and more like its historic 2001 campaign.  Like the '01 club, this year's team lost their GLVC Tourney opener before winning five in a row to take the league crown.

The Hounds' GLVC championship is their first since 2001, while their current .750 winning percentage marks their highest since '01 (.773).

In the midst of his fourth 40-win season at UIndy, Coach Vaught looks to secure his eighth NCAA bid at the school and third in the last four years.   The region's top-six teams will compete at the 2012 NCAA Division II Midwest Regional Tournament May 17-20, with the field announced tonight at NCAA.com at 10 p.m. ET.