Senior Christian Bokich hurled five innings of five-hit ball and the Flames countered with a 13-hit attack in coasting past visiting Bellarmine University (Ky.) 20-2 on Tuesday afternoon at Olympic Field.

The Flames improved to 8-11 on the year and the Knights dropped to 6-4. The two clubs will square off again on Wednesday afternoon in another nine-inning non-conference contest.

Bokich registered four strikeouts and did not walk a Knight hitter in posting his first pitching win of the year. Winston Whitener came on to pitch the sixth and seventh innings for the Flames, allowing one hit and two earned runs. He walked three Bellarmine hitters. Lance Hamilton followed for an inning. The lefty surrendered a hit and recorded a strikeout. Davis Gurosky finished the day with a pair of strikeouts while allowing two hits.

“Christian (Bokich) did an excellent job tossing five-shutout innings and it was good to get several other guys out on the mound,” commented head coach Mark Brew. “I am really excited about how our defense is playing right now. With four double plays on the night and another clean game, we are playing with confidence in the field.”

The Flames were led at the plate by Chase Gadau who blasted his fourth and fifth homers of the year and finished the afternoon with three RBI and three runs scored. Chase Andrews enjoyed a big day at the plate collecting five RBI and scoring two runs with two doubles and a single.

The assault continued with Spencer Mossburg’s second homer of the year to go along with a triple. His day was completed with three runs batted in and crossing the dish twice. Tyler Payne got into the act with his fourth double of the season. He accounted for two runs and three RBI. Miguel Pimentel tallied three times, while Ryan Beamish singled home a pair of runs. Peyton Meeker tallied three runs and Jordan Howard ripped a double in the opening inning.

“We certainly didn’t expect things to get out of hand like they did tonight, but I thought our offense was really opportunistic,” noted Brew. “Andrews, Gadau and Mossburg had really good days at plate and we had lots of players contribute offensively.”

Six pitchers toed the rubber for the losers. Alex Phillips worked two innings and was charged with the loss. At the plate, the Knights collected six singles to go along with a double by Andrew Sams. He joined Brandy Pfaadt by scoring the only runs for Bellarmine.

“Tomorrow will be a different day. We can’t expect that type of game again. Bellarmine has a really good club and I expect tomorrow to be a tough test for us,” the coach concluded.