MOREHEAD, Ky. - The Belmont baseball team begins OVC play on Saturday at 12 p.m., traveling to Morehead State for a three-game series.
Belmont is looking for its second consecutive series victory against the Eagles, winning the first two games in Nashville last season. The Bruins lead the overall series 33-12 and will see its first doubleheader action of the season.
"Our league provides a lot of different challenges," head coach Dave Jarvis said. "I feel like it's a good league that is very competitive and very well balanced throughout. More than anything else, you just try to keep it as simple as you possibly can and not complicate your approach and preparation of the games. With baseball, anything can happen on any given day. You just try to prepare the best way that you can and go out and compete."
Reaching 10 wins already this season, the 2020 team is the second Belmont team in program history to reach 10 wins by March 3. The first Bruin team to do it was the 2001 team, who clinched a doubleheader against Valparaiso and Butler on March 3 to reach that mark. That team ended with a 30-23 record, the first 30-win team under Jarvis.
Belmont has won nine of its last 10 games, winning four of those contests by walk-off.
"I point to character whenever teams are good at coming from behind and scoring in clutch situations," Jarvis said. "That means that there's a lot of people over there in that dugout and I credit our bench to that and a lot of people that are in the dugout who are a part of that positive energy and positive thinking."
Belmont has proven that they are never out of a game when they are trailing this season. In addition to having four walk-off wins, Belmont has outscored its opponents 33-7 when the game has reached the seventh inning or later.
They have also driven in 23 runs when they are down to their last out in an inning.
"A large part of that is there is really good character on our team," Jarvis said. "They're not going to give up. They're not going to give away at-bats late in the ball game. I think the chemistry that this team has had has proven to be very special so far."
Game Notes
Scouting Morehead State
Morehead State heads into the series with a 4-7 record, but has played a tough schedule to start the year. The Eagles faced Michigan State on a neutral site, dropping all four games, and are recently coming off a loss at No. 3 Louisville. Morehead State is hitting .233 as a team, hitting 10 home runs and driving in 57 runs already this season.
The Eagles are led by Jon Burghardt and Brody Shoupe, who are both hitting .304 on the season. Ryan Layne is the team's slugger, leading Morehead State with 11 hits and 10 runs scored to go with a .275 batting average. Stephen Hill also adds power, driving in a team high 10 runs in 2020. Jason Goe, Alex Garbrick and Cory Conway are the team's projected starters for the weekend. Goe has collected 20 strikeouts while Garbrick has come up with 25, with Cory Conway holding a 4.50 ERA and pitching a shutout against Norfolk State.
