Box Score
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Belmont University baseball team came out on the right side of a thrilling pitcher's duel on Sunday afternoon at E.S. Rose Park, outlasting Youngstown State, 2-0, to secure both a four-game series sweep and their eighth straight victory.
The winning streak is the longest for the Bruins since they won eight straight to close out the shortened 2020 season.
Belmont (8-1) picked up their fourth shutout of the season, limiting Youngstown State to just five baserunners.
Scoreless through the first 7 ½ innings, the Bruins scratched across the game's only two runs on clutch RBI base hits from Guy Lipscomb and John Behrends.
Lipscomb stepped in with runners on first and third with one out in the bottom of the eighth inning, delivering with a single to center field that scored Austin Ehren.
Behrends then climbed in and provided a base hit to left-center that drove in Jackson Werth, making it 2-0 in favor of the Bruins.
That proved to be all the run support the Bruin pitching staff would need.
Jalen Borders went 6 2/3 shutout innings, scattering four hits and one walk in a no-decision. The sophomore left-hander collected six strikeouts in the victory, and has yet to allow a run in 13 2/3 innings on the mound this season.
Will Jenkins (W, 1-0) replaced Borders with two outs in the seventh inning and struck out three of the four batters he faced, earning his first win of the season.
Senior closer Kyle Brennan (SV, 4) came on to shut the door in the ninth and retired the side in order to send the Bruin dugout over the railing and into celebration mode.
Brennan now has 21 career saves and is currently fourth all-time in Belmont program history, five behind Jon Ivie (26, 2008-11).
The Bruins currently hold a team ERA of 1.12, good for top 10 in the country, and have not committed an error over the past eight games.
At 8-1, Belmont is out to their best start to a season since they began the 2010 campaign 10-0.
Belmont will play their first road game of the season on Wednesday, making the short drive to Lipscomb for a Battle of the Boulevard tilt at Ken Dugan Field. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m.
