Box Score
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A two-run home run in the eighth inning from Jack Capobianco lifted the Belmont University baseball team to a huge 5-3 win over Southeast Missouri on Saturday at E.S. Rose Park.
With the series tied at 1-1 heading into Sunday's series finale, the winner of the rubber match scheduled for 1 p.m. will hold first place in the Ohio Valley Conference.
Capobianco's home run to left-center field was just the second of his career, and his first-ever at E.S. Rose Park. It broke a 3-3 tie in the bottom of the eighth inning and helped cement one of the most dramatic comebacks of the season.
Trailing 3-2 heading into the bottom of the eighth inning, Belmont (28-15, 10-4 OVC) got a leadoff double from Tommy Crider before Logan Jarvis singled to center field to score Austin Ehren, who was on to pinch-run for Crider, and tie the game at 3-3.
After a strikeout of a Bruin batter, Capobianco then homered off Kyle Miller, one of the best relievers in the OVC, to send the Belmont crowd and dugout into a frenzy.
Dusty Baird (SV, 1) came on to shut the door in the ninth inning and hand Belmont the series-tying victory.
Joshua South (W, 6-2) delivered one of his best performances of the year, going eight innings with a season-high nine strikeouts on 122 pitches, the second-most pitches he has thrown in his career.
South limited one of the best offenses in the conference to just six hits and three runs, while only walking two Redhawks.
Southeast Missouri grabbed the lead first in the opening inning, but Belmont was able to tie the game back up on a Guy Lipscomb RBI single through the right side that drove in Carson Shacklett in the third inning.
After the Redhawks took the lead again in the fourth frame, Lipscomb delivered another game-tying RBI single, this time to second base to drive in Capobianco in the seventh inning.
Lipscomb finished 2-for-4 with two RBIs.
Following a home run from Southeast Missouri in the top of the eighth to take a 3-2 lead, the Bruins rallied for three runs in the bottom of the inning and held on for the win.
Belmont and Southeast Missouri have both yet to lose a conference series this season, with the Bruins winning their first four and the Redhawks winning their first five OVC series. Belmont has not taken a series off of Southeast Missouri since 2017, but there has only been one sweep since 2013.
Belmont will wrap up the series with Southeast Missouri on Sunday afternoon at E.S. Rose Park. Jalen Borders (4-2, 2.60 ERA) will start on the mound for the Bruins.
First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+, and live audio play-by-play will be simulcast on the Bruin Sports Network.
