Box Score
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- With a season-high 16 hits, the Belmont University baseball team withstood late pressure from Dayton on Friday night at E.S. Rose Park to earn their tenth straight win, 7-6.
The ten-game winning streak is the longest for the Bruins since 2010, when they started the season 10-0.
Kyle Brennan (SV, 6) picked up his nation-leading sixth save of the season in his sixth attempt, shutting out the Flyers with a scoreless ninth inning to secure the victory. Brennan now has 23 career saves, currently 4th all-time at Belmont behind Jon Ivie, who tallied a program-best 26 saves from 2008 to 2011.
Dominic Baratta (W, 3-0) picked up the win after making his first relief appearance of the season, taking over for Joshua South with two outs in the fourth inning and proceeding to go 1 2/3 innings with one earned run allowed.
Dayton jumped over South early, collecting a run on an RBI double that put runners at second and third with one out. South buckled down, however, and struck out two straight batters to keep the deficit at 1-0.
In the ensuing half-inning, Belmont responded with three runs to take the lead. Guy Lipscomb drew a leadoff walk before John Behrends doubled to set up second and third with nobody out. Brodey Heaton drove in the tying run with a groundball to the shortstop, then Logan Jarvis scored Behrends with an infield single. After Carson Shacklett singled, Jackson Campbell picked up an RBI base hit to close out the scoring in the first inning.
South would deal with plenty of baserunners throughout the rest of his outing, but was able to get through tough situations with timely outs. After giving up a two-run home run in the fifth inning, South was replaced by Baratta after going 4 2/3 innings with five hits, six strikeouts, and two walks.
Once again, Belmont immediately responded by plating three runs in the bottom half of the fifth inning, with Jarvis and Shacklett tallying back-to-back singles before Grayson Taylor tripled to the right field corner to bring both in. Tommy Crider then singled to pick up his first RBI of the season and give Belmont a 7-3 lead.
Dayton, however, wasn't going away quietly.
The Flyers loaded the bases with nobody out in the seventh inning before Marcos Pujols popped up to second base for one out. The Bruins went to the bullpen, replacing Baratta with Will Jenkins, who got the ensuing Dayton batter to ground to third base, where Logan Jarvis, trying to turn the inning-ending double play, accidentally threw the ball into right field, allowing two runs to score.
Dayton then pulled off a double steal to scratch across another run and bring the score to 7-6.
Jenkins needed just seven pitches to retire the side in the eighth inning, striking out two Flyers in the process, to set the table for Brennan to pick up the save in the ninth.
Carson Shacklett went 3-for-4 with a run scored to lead six Bruins who tallied multiple hits. Behrends, Jarvis, Campbell, Brodey Heaton, and Jack Capobianco all contributed two hits each.
Prior to Friday, the most runs Belmont had given up in a game was the three allowed to Toledo in the season opener--the 3-2 defeat is the Bruins' only loss this season.
Belmont will look for their 11th straight win when they host Dayton on Saturday afternoon. First pitch is set for 2 p.m. at E.S. Rose Park. Andy Bean (2-0, 0.82 ERA) will get the start on the mound.
Live audio play-by-play will be available on the Bruin Sports Network, and live stats can be found at BelmontBruins.com.
