Sophomore third baseman Josh Finerty delivered a walk-off RBI double in the Bellarmine University baseball team’s 4-3 victory over No. 12 Indianapolis in Sunday’s opener at Knights Field, and sophomore left-hander Alex Phillips whirled a complete game in a 3-2 triumph in the finale in Great Lakes Valley Conference action.
With Sunday’s two victories, Bellarmine (27-15, 14-6 GLVC) swept the four-games series against Indianapolis (25-17, 9-11). The Knights have been victorious in five-straight contests and exceeded last year’s win total of 25 with eight regular-season games still remaining.
In the opener, the score was knotted at 3 in the eighth inning when Finerty strode to the plate with two outs and junior shortstop Drew Greenwood on second after he singled and advanced on Phillips’ sacrifice bunt. Finerty unloaded on the pitch he saw from Dylan Stutsman (1-1), sending a deep drive that cleared the left fielder and easily brought in Greenwood with the winning run.
In the series finale, Phillips (4-0) remained unbeaten after firing 7.0 innings and allowing one earned run on six hits with six strikeouts while notching his second complete game. Phillips fanned the first two Greyhounds in the seventh and ultimately induced a game-ending ground out with the tying run on second.
Phillips went 3 for 4 in the first game, and Greenwood added two hits. Bellarmine trailed 3-2 in the sixth before Phillips tallied his second RBI single of the contest. Senior right-hander Will Birch (4-3) collected the win with 2.0 scoreless innings of relief.
In the second game of the twin bill, Bellarmine scored all three of its runs over the first two innings against Jake Shaw (4-4). Junior left fielder Griffin Neuer laced an RBI double and sophomore right fielder Zac Wiley added an RBI in the first, and senior catcher Christopher Allen tacked on an RBI single in the second.
From there, the Knights rode Phillips to cap a series sweep. Junior designated hitter Brady Pfaadt was 2 for 2 in the tail end, and freshman center fielder Casey Womack was 2 for 3.
Bellarmine hosts Lewis in doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday.
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Adam Pruiett
