Box Score BUIES CREEK, NC. – The Belmont baseball team (21-18, 10-9) defeated Campbell (15-26, 2-17) by a score of 16-1 in game one of the Atlantic Sun Conference season Thursday night. Sophomore Chase Brookshire (Chattanooga, Tenn.) led the Bruins with a five hit complete game on only 83 pitches as he improved to 4-2 on the season.
After giving up a single on the first Campbell at bat of the game, Brookshire made it to the bottom of the fifth inning before allowing another hit. The Camels scored when Cameron Nelson drove in a run with an infield single. Kyle Holmstrom, who led off the inning with a single, scored on the play.
The Bruins finally got on the board in the next half inning with three two-out runs in the sixth. After the first two Belmont batters popped out and struck out, senior Tim Egerton (Smyrna, Tenn.) started the rally with a double down the left field line. He then scored to tie the game when freshman Greg Brody (Dacula, Ga.) single to right field.
Sophomore Jared Breen (Marietta, Ga.) then advanced Brody to third on a single to the right field of his own. Brody gave the Bruins the lead when Campbell pitcher Koopman balked to advance the freshman home to make it 2-1. Junior Zac Mitchell (Cordova, Tenn.) finished the two-out rally, driving in Breen with a single through the left side of the infield to make it 3-1.
After starting the rally in the sixth, it was Egerton making things happen again in the seventh, as his sacrifice fly drove in senior Derek Hamblen (Plano, Texas) to make it 4-1 in favor of the Bruins. Hamblen led off the inning with a single to left field, before stealing second and third to give him four stolen bases in the contest. That marked the most in a single game for a Belmont player since Carlo Testa tallied five against North Florida on March 14, 2008.
BU put the game out of reach with eight runs in the top of the eighth as 13 Bruins came to the plate to take a 12-1 lead. Senior Matt Zeblo (Raleigh, N.C.), Hamblen, senior Nate Woods (Cedar Rapids, Iowa), and Breen each tallied singles in the innings, while Egerton recorded his second double of the game to drive in two runs.
The Bruins added four more runs of insurance in the ninth. Junior Phillip Parsley (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) hit a two RBI single to score the first two, before Brody recorded his sixth home run of the season on a bomb to left field that drove in the final two runs of the game for BU.
Belmont finished with 16 runs on 19 hits and three errors. Hamblen, Brody and Breen led the Bruins with three hits in the game, while Brody and Egerton each tallied three RBI in the victory. Brookshire picked up the win after allowing only one unearned run on five hits, while striking out four batters and walking none in nine innings.
Campbell totaled one run on five hits and four errors. Jimmy Brenneman led the Camels with two hits on the day, while pitcher Ryan Koopman recorded the loss after giving up five runs on nine hits and walking five in seven innings pitched.
The two teams will conclude the series with a doubleheader on Friday beginning at 12:00 p.m. CT in Buies Creek, N.C.
