JACKSON, Tenn. -- Belmont Baseball (38-19) defeated Jacksonville State, 6-3 on Thursday afternoon in the OVC Tournament.
Judah Akers (Cookeville, Tenn.) got the first hit for the Bruins with a leadoff single through the left side. Akers scored on an RBI single from Spencer Petett (Tompkinsville, Ky.) to put BU on the board first, 1-0.
A leadoff single and a stolen base by Drew Ferguson (Knoxville, Tenn.) sparked a three-run inning in the third. A pair of ground outs scored Ferguson followed by singles from Josh Davis (Fayetteville, Ga.) and Alec Diamond (Kennesaw, Ga.) to give the Bruins a 4-0 lead.
Jacksonville State answered in the fourth behind a triple from Griff Gordon. He proceeded to score off a ground out, to put the Gamecocks on the board, 4-1. In the bottom half of the inning, Matt Beaty (Dresden, Tenn.) doubled down the left field line to score Breen and Ritchie, who both drew walks.
In the fifth, a double scored one run for the Gamecocks and a solo home run in the sixth from Gordon made it a 6-3 game.
Chase Brookshire (Chattanooga, Tenn.) delivered an outstanding outing for the Bruins. The Senior Class Award finalist improves to 5-2 on the season, registering a career-high 14 strikeouts while walking just one in a complete game victory. The left-hander pounded the strike zone throughout, recording the most single-game strikeouts in the OVC Tournament in 12 years.
Diamond went 4-for-4, while Beaty drove in three of the Bruins' six runs.
Belmont will play SEMO tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. CT, with complete coverage on the Bruin Sports Network and the OVC Digital Network.
