Box Score NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Belmont baseball team (1-1) dropped a 2-0 decision at home to Kansas (3-0) on Saturday afternoon as part of the Music City Classic in Nashville. Junior captain Drew Turner (Shelbyville, Tenn.) led the Bruins at the plate with a pair of singles in the defeat.
"We know what we have had in Drew for the past two years," Head Coach Dave Jarvis said following the game. "He's been behind a very talented outfield the past two seasons in Derek Hamblen, Tim Egerton, and Dylan Craig, but he has a great work ethic and Drew is a high character guy, so we knew he would be prepared when his time came."
Turner's offensive production on Saturday went unnoticed in the run column, as both of his one-out base knocks in the second and fifth innings were followed by a pair of outs for the Bruins.
Belmont had a difficult time with Kansas starting pitcher, Thomas Taylor, who allowed only three hits and struck out five batters in eight and one third innings pitched.
For the second straight contest to start the 2012 season Belmont's pitching was in fine form, allowing only two runs to the Jayhawks. Senior captain Matt Hamann (Northbrook, Ill.) allowed no runs on five hits, while striking out five and walking one batter in a no decision start.
Freshman Dan Ludwig (Naperville, Ill.), junior Josh Davis (Fayetteville, Ga.), and senior Garrett Fanchier (Lebanon, Tenn.) finished out the game on the mound for BU, allowing two runs on four hits between the three of them.
Davis had the best outing of the bunch after inheriting a one-out bases loaded situation from Ludwig in the sixth. The right-hander allowed only one run in the inning, and went on to give up a total of two hits in three innings of action before giving way to Fanchier for the final two outs.
"We air on the side of caution sometimes early in the season, because it's our goal to try to build these kids up and get them prepared for our conference schedule," Jarvis said of giving Hamann and junior Chase Brookshire (Chattanooga, Tenn.) five innings of work on Saturday and Friday, respectively. "It's also an opportunity to give the kids out of our bullpen some more touches, and get them prepared for the conference season."
Belmont finished with no runs on four hits and one error. Kansas totaled two runs on nine hits and no errors. Taylor picked up his first win of the season, while Jordan Jakubov earned his first save of the year after allowing no runs on one hit in two thirds of an inning.
The Bruins will finish out the weekend on Sunday, hosting Saint Louis at Rose Park at 1:00 p.m. Kansas will travel down the road to Lipscomb to play the Bison at 1:00 p.m.
