INDIANAPOLIS - The students and fans at Marian University Baseball Field were in for a treat on Thursday afternoon as the Knights and the University of Saint Francis (Ind.) dueled for just over 90 minutes in a key Mid-Central College Conference doubleheader.

Both teams received stellar outings from their starting pitchers as the Knights were able to sweep a pair of pitcher's duels by matching 2-1 score lines. They improved to 20-20 on the season and 12-8 in MCC play as they snapped a five-game losing skid.

The late afternoon first game saw the starting pitchers breeze through each team's lineup as neither team was able to muster a hit through the first three innings. The only blemish on two otherwise perfect pitching records was a walk to MU junior Todd Ungru in the Knights' second inning. However, USF broke through with the first hit in the top of the fourth, but senior Ricky Parrish was able to get himself out of a two-on, one-out jam with an inning-ending double play.

Junior Cory Emmons got the Knights' first hit in the bottom of the fourth after he ripped a triple to the left center field gap. The only problem was that it came with two outs and Ungru was retired to end the inning stranding Emmons at third.

USF broke through with the game's first run as a safety squeeze scored an unearned run to give the Cougars a 1-0 lead.

The Knights went down quietly in the bottom half and, although USF threatened again in the sixth, Parrish was able to keep the score line at 1-0 after six complete.

MU finally got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the sixth as senior Tony Goodpaster ripped an RBI-double that scored junior Bobby Willis to knot the score at 1-1. They capitalized on two key USF errors to tie the game.

USF went quietly in the seventh to set the scene for drama in the bottom half of the final inning. A walk to Ungru was followed by a single from junior Austin Gibson and an intentional walk to senior Patrick Midla to load the bases with no outs. Freshman Jordan Long hit the game-winning RBI-single through the drawn-in infield to plate sophomore James Storms with the winning run for the 2-1 victory.

Other than Long's RBI-single and Goodpaster's RBI-double, the star of the game went to senior lefthander Ricky Parrish. Parrish threw his seventh complete game of the season to improve to 5-3 on the campaign. He allowed zero earned runs on three hits, walked three and struck out six for the victory.

The nightcap was another duel, but the Knights were able to stake themselves an early lead in the bottom of the third. Freshman Brett Metcalf led off with a double and Willis beat out an infield single to put two on with no outs. Goodpaster came through again with an RBI-double and Ungru hit an RBI-ground out to give the Knights a 2-0 lead.

The Cougars would not go down without a fight as they put sophomore lefthander Neil Hackett in a precarious position in a few innings. The first inning saw a leadoff single and a pair of stolen bases put the hitter on third with two outs. A walk put runners on the corners, and the Cougars attempted a double steal. However, a heads-up play got the runner at the plate and keep the scoreboard at zeroes.

With the score reading 2-0, the Cougars received a walk and a long double on back-to-back at-bats. However, the runner tried to score from first on the double, but Metcalf, Willis and Gibson teamed up to gun down the runner at the plate to erase a potential threat.

The Cougars did break through in the seventh, but a strikeout by sophomore Caleb Small secured the victory and his second save of the season.

Hackett got the shutout victory with six innings of three-hit ball and, although he walked five, he struck out three to improve to 7-2 on the season.

The two teams combined for just 16 hits (seven in game one, nine in game two) in the doubleheader.

The Knights and Cougars will meet up again on Saturday when MU heads to Fort Wayne, Ind., to close out the season series. First pitch of Saturday's doubleheader is scheduled for 1 p.m.