NASHVILLE, Tenn. – It is finally that time. The Belmont baseball team will begin its quest to defend its Atlantic Sun Conference Championship and return to the NCAA Tournament with three non-conference games this weekend as part of the Music City Classic.
With contests at Belmont, Lipscomb, and Middle Tennessee, the Music City Classic will be a great start to the 2012 season for the Bruins. BU will host Evansville on Friday at 4:00 p.m., Kansas on Saturday at 2:00 p.m., and conclude the weekend hosting Saint Louis on Sunday at 1:00 p.m.
All of the Belmont games will be held at E.S. Rose Park, the new home of Belmont Baseball. The Bruins were able to play all of their May home games at the new facility last season, but this will be the first complete season for BU Baseball at Rose Park.
The Belmont baseball team is coming off of its best season in program history in 2011. The Bruins won a school record 38 games en route to their first ever Atlantic Sun Championship and a berth into the NCAA Regional.
BU is led by a pitching staff that returns almost all key players from the historic 2011 squad. Senior Captain Matt Hamann (Northbrook, Ill.) was recently named to the Preseason All-Atlantic Sun Team, while junior Chase Brookshire (Chattanooga, Tenn.) joined Hamann as a pair of all-conference pitchers last season. The rest of the rotation is filled by returning veterans and promising newcomers, giving Belmont a steady bullpen to start the 2012 campaign.
Belmont lost a number of major offensive contributors to graduation last spring, but senior Dylan Craig (Signal Mountain, Tenn.), who was a unanimous choice for Preseason All-Conference, leads a solid core of returning position players in 2012. The speedy centerfielder hit over .300 for the third straight season as a junior. The Bruins will also be led by a trio of returning infielders in senior captain Zac Mitchell (Cordova, Tenn.) at second base, junior Jared Breen (Marietta, Ga.) at shortstop, and sophomore Greg Brody (Dacula, Ga.) at third base.
Evansville went 28-25 last year, finishing seventh in the Missouri Valley Conference. The Purple Aces return 12 of 13 pitchers from the 2011 staff, including left-hander Josh Biggs, who went 5-2 as a sophomore with an ERA of 2.25 a season ago. Evansville will be led at the plate by senior second baseman Trentt Copeland. He finished last season with a .308 batting average, 17 doubles, one home run, and 22 runs batted in.
Kansas finished with a 26-30 overall record last season, placing 10th in the Big 12. The Jayhawks return six of nine position starters, including senior Zac Elgie, who hit .297 with seven home runs and 37 RBI last year. Kansas has revamped its pitching rotation after losing a pair of weekend starters from 2011. Junior Thomas Taylor has the most experience of the bunch, going 5-3 with an ERA of 4.74 in 57.0 innings last year.
Saint Louis went 29-26 in 2011, finishing 10th in the Atlantic 10. The Billikens return 13 of 15 pitchers from a year ago, including weekend starter Alex Alemann. The junior went 5-6 with an ERA of 3.05 and 46 strikeouts in 88.2 innings pitched last season. Saint Louis will be led at the plate by Steve Fernandez, who recorded a batting average of .293 with 18 runs batted in a .447 on base percentage in 2011.
Audio for all three games of the opening weekend can be heard on the Bruin Sports Network with play-by-play courtesy of Rich Tiner. You can also follow along with Live Stats or the Belmont Baseball Twitter feed.
Game Notes - Music City Classic
Audio - Bruin Sports Network
Live Stats
Twitter: @BelmontBaseball
