Box Score COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The Belmont baseball team (20-18, 9-9) snapped a five game winning streak, falling to Tennessee Tech (16-19, 5-4) for the second time this season. The Golden Eagles hit a solo home run in the bottom of the ninth to win the game 9-8, marking the third time this season that the Bruins have lost at the hands of a walk off homer.
Neither team got much going offensively through the first three and a half innings. Tennessee Tech then took a 6-1 lead with five runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. The Golden Eagles put together a couple of singles and a walk before Casanova Donaldson hit a grand slam to give Tech the big lead.
Belmont came right back to take the lead at 7-6 in the top of the fifth with a six run inning. After junior Dylan Craig (Signal Mountain, Tenn.) singled and senior Nate Woods (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) walked, the Bruins recorded three straight two RBI at bats to take the lead.
Sophomore Judah Akers (Cookeville, Tenn.) drove in the first two runs of the inning after reaching base on an error by the Tech short stop. Senior Tim Egerton (Smyrna, Tenn.) then drove in Akers and Woods with his team-leading 12th double of the season. Freshman Greg Brody (Dacula, Ga.) then finished the scoring stretch with his fifth home run on the year.
Belmont scored one in the seventh on a solo shot by Egerton, before the Golden Eagles scored one run in each of the final three innings to finish their sweep of the Bruins in 2011. Tennessee Tech finished it with a lead off homer in the bottom of the ninth by Ben Burgess.
Tech finished with nine runs on 14 hits and three errors. Chad Hayes led the Golden Eagles with three hits, while Chad Oberacker recorded his first win of the season after allowing no runs on only two hits in the final three innings of the game.
The Bruins totaled eight runs on 10 hits and no errors. Both Egerton and sophomore Jared Breen (Marietta, Ga.) finished with two hits in the game. Freshman Blake Harvery (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) was credited with his first loss of the season after allowing two runs on four hits in one inning of relief.
Belmont will next travel to Buies Creek, N.C. to take on Campbell in a three game Atlantic Sun Conference series Thursday and Friday.
