Box Score
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. -- The Belmont University baseball team lost a late lead on the road Tuesday night, dropping a nailbiter, 9-8, to Western Kentucky at Nick Denes Field in Bowling Green, Ky.
Belmont (19-10, 5-1 OVC) led 6-1 in the fifth inning and 8-5 in the eighth inning, but the Hilltoppers stormed back with four runs in the bottom of the eighth to take a one-run lead heading into the final frame.
The Bruins put the tying run at first base with nobody out, but were then retired in order to end the game.
John Behrends had a big night at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a home run, a double, and two RBIs. Jackson Campbell hit his first home run of the season in the fifth inning, a two-run shot over the left-center wall.
The Bruins used seven pitchers in the game, but it was the Hilltoppers executing a measure of revenge from March 15, when Belmont trailed 7-3 with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning before coming back to win a wild affair in extras.
Belmont jumped on the board first in the third inning when Jack Capobianco tripled to center field before scoring on a groundout from Grayson Taylor.
After WKU tied the game 1-1 in the bottom of the third, Belmont exploded for five runs in the fifth inning.
Mason Landers led off the frame with a double off the base of the wall in left field before Campbell stepped in and blasted one over the fence to give the Bruins a 3-1 lead. Capobianco and Taylor were both walked and Carson Shacklett was hit by a pitch to load the bases and force a Hilltopper pitching change.
Behrends lined out and Lipscomb grounded out, scoring Capobianco from third base to make it 4-1 in favor of Belmont.
Brodey Heaton then dug in and drilled a single to right field, driving in both Taylor and Shacklett to give Belmont their largest lead at 6-1.
WKU responded immediately in the bottom of the fifth inning. Despite two quick outs recorded by Belmont reliever Lane Lamberth, the Hilltoppers then got three straight two-out singles before a grand slam cut the Belmont lead to 6-5.
Behrends led off the seventh with a mammoth solo home run to right field, a no-doubter that stretched the Belmont lead to 7-5.
The Bruins then tacked on another run facing former Belmont Bruin Logan Bowen in the eighth inning, getting a two-out single from Shacklett and a double down the left-field line that drove in Austin Ehren, who had replaced Shacklett as a pinch-runner.
Leading 8-5 heading into the bottom of the eighth inning, the Bruins went to the bullpen again, but WKU quickly loaded the bases, forcing another Belmont pitching change.
The Bruins traded two outs for two runs and still led, 8-7, needing one more out to get to the ninth. Instead, back-to-back RBI doubles pushed WKU in front for good.
Jordan Zuger started on the mound for the Bruins and tossed two scoreless innings. Aaron Hubbell pitched well in relief, going 2 1/3 innings with three strikeouts and no hits or runs allowed. Dusty Baird pitched a scoreless fourth inning, needing just seven pitches to record three outs.
Belmont struck out ten times on the night, just the sixth time this season ten or more Bruins have struck out in a single game.
The Bruins put the leadoff man aboard five times in nine innings, but went just 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position.
Belmont returns home to resume conference play with an important three-game series against Tennessee Tech at E.S. Rose Park this weekend. Game 1 is scheduled for 4 p.m. on Friday, and will be streamed on ESPN+
