Box Score MURFREESBORO, Tenn.- The Belmont University baseball team (9-7) picked up its first road victory of the season, as it bested the host Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders, 9-4, Tuesday evening in Murfreesboro.
"We had good defense, good pitching and some very timely hitting tonight, that's always a recipe for success," remarked Head Coach Dave Jarvis after the win. "This is a good way to get things going on the road. We want to be road warriors and this is a solid first step to establishing that."
Senior pitcher Josh Tubbs (Camden, Tenn.) picked up his first win as he logged three innings of shutout baseball. Tubbs was one of six Bruins to toe the slab in what was a staff day of sorts.
Walks to Rafael Bournigal (Mulberry, Fla.) and Chas Hadden (Morristown, Tenn.) to leadoff the game gave the Bruins an opportunity to score in the first inning. A throwing error by MTSU off a hit by Alex Ward (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) brought Bournigal around to score. Belmont in its first crack at batting first in game this season, made the most of it and carried a 1-0 lead after the first half inning.
A single by Bournigal with the bases loaded in the second got past the right fielder of MTSU and brought all three base runners around to score. Bournigal would later score on a wild pitch and an RBI double by Ward which capped off a five-run second inning for Belmont.
A solo shot to left field by Blake Benefield got MTSU on the board in the bottom of the second. The scoreboard read 6-1 in favor of BU after two complete.
Both offenses were held in check for the next several innings until the bottom of the sixth when an RBI double by Aaron Aucker gave the Raiders their second tally of the contest.
A three-run home run by Tyler Walsh (Evansville, Ind.) cleared the left-field wall in the bottom of the seventh and gave the Bruins their largest lead of the game at 9-2.
Walsh now has three homeruns on the year, the team lead.
"I think that always makes the game easier when you get an early lead like that. Of course Tyler had the big three-run homer to help us stretch the lead back out after MTSU had inched its way back into it," added Jarvis.
The Raiders pushed a run across the plate in the bottom of the seventh off a single by Austin Dennis. MTSU's Kevin Dupree was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and two out later in the inning to bring another run in to score and cut the lead down to five.
Ward, Walsh, Ben Kocher (Zionsville, Ind.) and Kyle Conger (Brentwood, Tenn.) all recorded two hit games for BU.
Austin Krzeminski (Roswell, Ga.) earned his second collegiate start on the mound for the Bruins.
Hadden worked a team-high three walks as the freshman continues to get on base at a high clip.
The Bruins defense notched its seventh error-less game of the season as it backed up the BU pitching staff.
"I was really encouraged by how effective our defense was. They played excellent tonight," said Jarvis.
The Bruins held the Raiders scoreless in the final two innings to secure the victory.
Belmont's focus shifts to the OVC now as it hosts Eastern Kentucky this weekend in its first conference action of 2016.
