Box Score
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Early offense powered the Belmont University baseball team to a 9-5 win over Eastern Illinois on Friday night at E.S. Rose Park.
Saturday's game had originally been scheduled to start at 2 p.m., but has been moved up to 11 a.m. due to impending weather in the Nashville area later in the day.
Belmont (33-17, 14-5 OVC) put up three runs in the first inning and four runs in the second inning to establish a 7-1 lead that they would not relinquish the rest of the night.
Andy Bean (W, 9-1) picked up his ninth win of the season on the mound, moving him into a tie for 2nd in program history for wins in a season. The sophomore allowed three runs in five innings on the hill, limiting the top offense in the conference and keeping Belmont in the lead once the Bruins gained the advantage in the opening frame.
Brodey Heaton, the reigning OVC Player of the Week, stayed hot at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a triple, a double, and three RBIs. Logan Jarvis finished 2-for-4 with three RBIs, and Guy Lipscomb and John Behrends finished with two hits each as well.
After Eastern Illinois took a 1-0 lead in the first inning, Belmont responded with a three-run frame that saw Lipscomb and Heaton deliver back-to-back two-out doubles to tie the game at 1-1 before Jarvis punched a single into center field to score Heaton and Tommy Crider and give the Bruins a 3-1 advantage.
Belmont was able to put runners on second and third base with one out in the bottom of the second inning before a lightning delay forced both teams off the diamond for 30 minutes.
Once play resumed, Heaton brought the thunder with a two-RBI triple to center field to make it 5-1 in favor of the home side.
Not to be outdone, Tommy Crider dug in and drilled a two-run, no-doubt home run to left field and give Belmont a 7-1 lead.
After Bean exited following the fifth inning, Dominic Baratta (SV, 1) delivered four stellar innings in relief to earn his first save as a Bruin. Baratta shut out the Panthers until there were two outs in the ninth inning, where Eastern Illinois got a two-RBI triple to prevent the sophomore lefty from achieving a blank slate.
Across four frames, Baratta scattered just three hits and struck out three, walking none.
Belmont's final two runs came in the seventh inning on a sacrifice fly from Mason Landers that drove in John Behrends and an RBI single from Jarvis that brought in Heaton.
Thanks to Southeast Missouri's 10-3 loss to the University of Tennessee at Martin on Friday night, Belmont now stands alone in first place in the Ohio Valley Conference with five conference games left in the regular season.
Belmont's 33 wins are the most since the Bruins went 33-27 in 2016.
Belmont will return to E.S. Rose Park on Saturday at 11 a.m. for Game Two against Eastern Illinois. Belmont RHP Joshua South (7-2, 4.95 ERA) will face Eastern Illinois RHP Cameron Doherty (4-5, 5.04 ERA).
The game will be streamed on ESPN+, and live audio play-by-play will be simulcast on the Bruin Sports Network.
