LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The GLVC East-leading UIndy baseball squad split a doubleheader at Bellarmine Friday, edging the Knights 3-2 before falling in a 4-3 walk-off.
GAME ONE: UIndy 3, BU 2The series opener was a classic pitchers' duel between UIndy's
Matthew Kaplanis and Bellarmine's Ben Fuchs, but some late inning heroics from the Greyhounds lifted them to a narrow 3-2 victory.
Bellarmine (19-17, 13-13 GLVC) jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on a two-RBI single from Nick Wright in the first inning, but wouldn't score the remainder of the game. Kaplanis (6-0) finished with a complete-game victory, allowing only five hits and two runs while fanning two batters. He needed only 95 pitches, getting an even mix of groundouts and flyouts.
Fuchs was equally efficient on the bump for the Knights, going eight-plus while allowing three runs (two earned) and seven hits.
The Greyhounds (21-16, 17-9) were held scoreless until the fifth, when
Brady Thomas drove a two-out double down the left field line to score
Daniel Lee, making it 2-1.
Down 2-1 heading to the final frame,
Colin Hawk sparked the decisive ninth-inning rally with a lead-off triple.
Alex Ritchie followed with a RBI single, knotting the game at 2-2 and chasing the Fuchs from the mound.
Blake Richardson kept the pressure on reliever Griffin Neuer, reaching on an error, and Lee later delivered a RBI groundout to make it 3-2.
Hawk went 3-for-4 with a double, triple and run scored; and Ritchie was 2-for-4 with a RBI and run.
GAME TWO: BU 4, UIndy 3 (7 inn.)Friday's closer figured to be just as competitive between the two starting pitchers, as UIndy's
Jordan Tackett and BU's Austin Warner entered as reigning GLVC Co-Pitchers of the Week. Each remarkably tossed a seven-inning no-hitter last Saturday against their respective opponents.
The Knights bested Tackett on the last out of the game, however, as Wright hit a two-out walk-off homer in the bottom of the seventh. Tackett was an out away from his third complete-game victory before surrendering a walk and then the ensuing dinger, falling 4-3.
Again the Knights opened the scoring, plating a run in each of the first two innings on Tackett, taking a 2-0 edge.
UIndy responded with runs in the third and fourth to tie the game at 2-2. A few batters after hitting a one-out single, Jacobs scored on a passed ball in the third. The following inning
Luke Andrade scored on a RBI bunt from
Trevor Forde.
After a 3-for-4 performance at the plate in the opener, Hawk again delivered with the go-ahead RBI in the fifth inning to make it 3-2. McCracken took first base after striking out on a wild pitch, and scored on Hawk's double down the left field line.
Jacobs went 3-for-3 with a walk in the game, and Forde was 1-for-2 with a RBI.
Head Coach
Gary Vaught will be seeking his 700th win while at UIndy, as the two squads meet again tomorrow for a doubleheader to finish the four-game tilt. First pitch is set for 12 p.m. ET.
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