Box Score NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Senior Nate Woods (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) pitched seven innings of two hit baseball on his way to earning the win, as Belmont (10-10, 3-3) defeated Ball State (2-15, 0-0) by a score of 4-1 on Saturday afternoon.
"Nate [Woods]'s seven innings set the precedent for the entire day," Head Coach Dave Jarvis said. "The job that he did, going out and giving us seven innings of one-run baseball, gave our offense a chance to take the advantage."
Woods recorded his best outing of the 2011 season, allowing one run on two hits, while striking out five and walking only one batter. The one Ball State run came in the fourth inning after Belmont had already scored its four runs. Woods improves to 2-3 on the season.
"A tip of the cap to our pitching staff today," Jarvis continued. "Nate [Woods] gave us that seven inning start, but both Garrett [Fanchier] and Jon [Ivie] were outstanding in relief today. If you look at our pitch count, we threw a total of 105 pitches on the day. That's outstanding."
Junior Garrett Fanchier (Lebanon, Tenn.) pitched the eighth inning, sitting Ball State down in their first three plate appearances. Senior Jon Ivie (Summertown, Tenn.) did the same thing as he earned his team-leading fifth save of the season in eight pitches during the ninth inning.
Freshman Greg Brody (Dacula, Ga.) got the Belmont offensive production started in the second inning with a two-out solo home run to give the Bruins a 1-0 lead. The second baseman would later double to left center field to make him two for four on the day.
"We know what a gifted player Greg Brody is," Jarvis said. "We've known that all along. Greg has worked extremely hard in the weight room and he's going to continue to improve his game. As he gains more and more experience, we don't think performances like today's will be unusual."
BU opened things up in the third inning, taking a 4-0 lead that would end up being all the Bruins needed for the win. Senior Derek Hamblen (Plano, Texas) led off the inning with his first triple of the season on a shot to right center field. He then scored on a ground out by junior Zac Mitchell (Cordova, Tenn.).
Junior Dylan Craig (Signal Mountain, Tenn.) then recorded one of his four singles on the day, before scoring from first on a double to left by senior Matt Zeblo (Raleigh, N.C.). The Belmont catcher then advanced to third on a wild pitch and subsequently scored on a sacrifice fly to left field by senior Tim Egerton (Smyrna, Tenn.).
"We put together the four runs in the second and third innings, but then I was pretty disappointed in the rest of our offensive output," Jarvis concluded. "It forced us to use Jon Ivie for the second day in a row. I only say that because we had some opportunities that we did not exploit; didn't take advantage of offensively."
Belmont did not score again after the third inning, but the Bruins did not need to in order to win this one over Ball State. BU finished with four runs on eight hits with three errors, while the Cardinals totaled one run on two hits and one error. Woods improved to 2-3 with the win, while Ball State's Derek Grabner falls to 0-2 with the loss. Ivie picked up his team-leading fifth save of the season.
The two teams will be back in action on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. for the final game in the series at Shelby Park.
