Box Score NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Belmont Baseball improved to 7-9 with an exciting win over Lipscomb (8-9) on Tuesday afternoon at E.S. Rose Park after a high-drama ninth inning.
Belmont's bats were on fire early in the contest. Senior Cully Day (Mahomet, Ill.) got things going with a lead-off triple to center field to start an early threat for the Bruins. Senior Kyle Conger (Brentwood, Tenn.) grounded out to first base, but his ground ball drove in Day for the early lead. Junior Chas Hadden (Morristown, Tenn.), and senior Ben Kocher (Zionsville, Ind.) continued the threat by blasting a pair of singles. Senior Austin Reynolds (Smyrna, Tenn.) hit the third consecutive base hit for the Bruins driving in Hadden. Kocher would later take advantage of a while pitch and Reynolds would be driven in by a Hunter Holland (Soddy Daisy, Tenn.) triple to take an early 4-0 lead after the first.
Day would continue to build on his impressive night, scoring BU's fifth run of the night from a solo home run in the top of the second. The long ball marks his fourth of the season.
After two scoreless innings, the Bisons would wake up in the top of the third. After a walk and a couple base hits, Lipscomb scored two runs in the third inning to cut the lead.
Belmont continued to make things happen in the bottom of the third. After the third batter, junior Zach Ehrhart (Mt. Juliet, Tenn.), singled to left field, BU took advantage of consecutive Bisons errors to tally two more runs in the bottom of the third.
Belmont went cold after the fourth inning, struggling to get anything going. The Bruins wouldn't record any more hits until the bottom of the ninth. Lipscomb took advantage of the momentum change to chip away at the lead, scoring two runs in the top of the sixth to cut the lead 7-4.
With a narrow, three run lead, freshman Logan Bowen (Bowling Green, Ky.) came in to throw for the Bruins trying to secure his fifth save of the season. After giving up a lead-off hit, Belmont gave up a walk and another base hit that scored two runs cutting the lead to one. With no outs and one on base, Lipscomb took advantage of a sac fly to notch things up. BU then called on freshman Chandler Schultz (Nashville, Tenn.) to try and get them out of a jam. With no outs and a runner on first, Schultz coaxed two fly-outs to get out of the inning.
Reynolds stepped up to the plate in the bottom of the ninth looking to get things going for the Bruins who hadn't recorded a hit since the fourth inning. Reynolds stepped up and blasted one down the right field line just in fair territory to put himself in scoring position. With a runner on second and one out, Holland was able to put the ball in play. Lipscomb made a smart defensive play to third for the force out of Reynolds. With Holland on first and one out, Ehrhart grounded out to first but advanced Holland to scoring position. With two outs and a potential walk-off win looming, freshman Jackson Campbell (Russellville, Ky.) was able to put together a nice at-bat and rocket a walk-of double to left field that send Holland home for the Victory.
Belmont would ultimately defeat Lipscomb 8-7 for their fourth consecutive win. Belmont out-hit the Bisons 13-12 and commited no errors.
UP NEXT
Belmont will travel to Morehead State this weekend to continue conference play. The first game of the series will be Friday, March 16.
