Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Belmont Baseball team (4-8, 1-2) dropped both ends of a doubleheader to Mercer (11-3, 2-1) on Sunday afternoon at Shelby Park. Senior Derek Hamblen (Plano, Texas) led the Bruins at the plate with four hits on the day.
Belmont was only outhit eight to four, but recorded three errors and gave up back to back to back home runs en route to a 9-0 loss in game one of the doubleheader. If you take away the fourth inning, in which senior Nate Woods (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) gave up a double and three home runs, the starting pitcher only allowed one run on two hits in six full innings. Unfortunately, the Bears scored four runs in the fourth and never relinquished that lead.
The Bruins received all four of its hits in the game from Hamblen and sophomore Judah Akers (Cookeville, Tenn.). Both players went two for three with a pair of singles in the game.
Mercer finished with nine runs on eight hits with one error, while Belmont was held scoreless on four hits and three errors. The Bears' Brandon Love improved to 3-0 on the season after shutting out the Bruins and striking out five in eight innings pitched. Woods earned the loss for BU, falling to 0-3 on the season.
Belmont was much more competitive in game two of the doubleheader, out-hitting Mercer by a mark of eight to seven. The Bruins still weren't able to put much together as the Bears' early 4-0 lead in the third was enough to hold off BU.
The Bruins got on the board in game two with two runs in the sixth inning. Hamblen led off the inning with a single through the left side of the infield, before junior Dylan Craig (Signal Mountain, Tenn.) doubled to left field, advancing Hamblen to third. Woods then recorded an RBI grounding out to short, as Hamblen scored on the play. Craig scored on the next play as sophomore Josh Davis (Fayetteville, Ga.) drove him in with a ground out to second base.
Hamblen also singled on a bunt in the first inning to give him four hits for the day. He was joined with two hits in game two by Woods, who singled in both the fourth and eighth innings. Junior Zac Mitchell (Cordova, Tenn.), senior Tim Egerton (Smyrna, Tenn.), and sophomore Jared Breen (Marietta, Ga.) each tallied one hit in the contest.
Mercer totaled six runs on seven hits and one error in game two, while Belmont finished with two runs on eight hits and one error. Justice French, who gave up two runs on six hits and struck out five in six innings, improved to 2-0 with the win. Belmont started James Buckelew (Suwanee, Ga.) falls to 0-3 after giving up four earned runs on five hits while striking out three in five innings.
"It's an extremely frustrating day. There's no doubt about that," Belmont Head Coach David Jarvis said. "Our play was not at a level that we are going to need to be at in order to get things accomplished in this tough Atlantic Sun Conference. We need to be much better at the plate. The fact that we played so poorly today discourages me, but it also gives me some optimism because we know that there is room for improvement. Offensively, we have guys that are capable of much more. Many of them have a body of work from their first two or three years of college baseball that proves that they are capable of more. We're better than we played today, but now we have to go out and prove it."
Belmont will next host Middle Tennessee State University in a non-conference game at Shelby Park on Tuesday, March 8 at 4:00 p.m.
