FLORENCE
- The University of North Alabama baseball
team took its first lead of the day Saturday
in its final at-bat to salvage a split in a
double-header with Bellarmine.
Bellarmine won
the opener 4-1 behind a combined three-hit
pitching performance, and the Knights led
3-2 in the nightcap before UNA rallied for
four runs in the bottom of the sixth for an
8-3 win.
With the split,
UNA is now 4-1 overall and Bellarmine is
1-1.
Nick Newberry
led off the sixth with a single and Jarrett
Shepherd came on to pinch run for him.
Jeffery Ritter reached on an error and
Daniel Johnson followed with an RBI single
to tie the game. It was Johnson's first hit
of the season in nine at-bats. Trey Pollard
was then intentionally walked to load the
bases with no outs. After Cole Mitchell
lined out to first, Kyle Jones was
hit-by-pitch and forced in the go-ahead run.
A Ross Parker RBI bunt single made it 5-3
and a Jackson Agee sacrificed in another run
to make it 6-3. Qualon Millender then ripped
a ball into left field to score the final
two runs.
Matt
Vandenheuvel (1-0), who came on in the
fourth inning in relief of Brennen Auerbach,
got the win, allowing no hits and no runs in
four innings of work. He walked one and
struckout three.
Bellarmine took
the early lead in the game with a run in the
second inning and a two-run Shane Noble
homer made it 3-0 in the third. A solo home
run by UNA's Kyle Jones cut the lead to 3-1
in the bottom of the third and a Pollard RBI
single in the fourth cut the deficit to 3-2.
Derek Mattingly
(0-1) , the first of four Knight pitchers in
the game, took the loss, allowing six runs
on seven hits in five innings of work.
UNA outhit
Bellarmine 9-3 in the second game.
Bellarmine
scored a run in the first inning of the
opener and UNA tied the game in the third
when Shepherd, who came in for an injured
Collin Murphy, walked, stole second and
scored on an RBI single by Newberry.
Bellarmine
added solo runs in the fourth, fifth and
seventh innings, including a solo homer from
Noble, to push its final advantage to 4-1.
Michael
Thompson, the first of four Bellarmine
pitchers, got the win, allowing just one
run on three hits in 4 1/3 innings. Aaron
Detherage came on in the fifth and got Josh
Graham to hit into a double-play to end a
UNA threat. Alex Kuebbing pitched a perfect
seventh to earn the save.
UNA's Jeff
Schafer (1-1) took the loss for UNA,
although he allowed just three runs on five
hits in 4 2./3 innings. He walked one and
struckout five.
The Lions only
three hits in the game were singles from
Murphy, Newberry and Ritter.
UNA will host
Bellarmine again Sunday in a single game
beginning at 1 p.m.
With the win
Saturday, UNA head coach Mike Lane now has
998 career victories as a collegiate coach
and has won 883 games in 25 seasons with the
Lions.
Printable Game
Statistics - Game 4 - Bellarmine
Printable Game
Statistics - Game 5 - Bellarmine
