Box Score
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. -- The Belmont University baseball team suffered their first walk-off loss of the season on Thursday night, falling to Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, 5-4, at Roy E. Lee Field in Edwardsville, Illinois.
Belmont (35-19, 16-6 OVC) was one out away from sending the game to a tenth inning, but an RBI single to center field in the bottom of the ninth gave the Cougars the slim win in the series opener.
With Southeast Missouri idle on Thursday night, Belmont retains a 0.5 game lead on first place in the Ohio Valley Conference. The Redhawks play a double-header at Eastern Illinois on Friday to start their series with the Panthers.
Game Two in the series against SIUE for Belmont has been moved up to 3 p.m. on Friday.
Things got off to a shaky start for the Bruins on Thursday, with four runs coming across in the first inning on four hits.
However, Andy Bean settled in spectacularly afterwards, going the next five innings without giving up a run and finishing his outing after six frames with eight strikeouts to just three walks.
With the Bruins trailing 4-0, the bottom third of the Belmont order did wonders in the top of the third inning, with Jackson Campbell getting on with a leadoff infield single before Jack Capobianco drew a walk and Grayson Taylor was hit by a pitch to load the bases with nobody out.
An infield RBI single from John Behrends scored Campbell before Guy Lipscomb sent a groundball to the right side of the diamond to bring in Capobianco.
With two outs in the frame and Belmont down 4-2, Brodey Heaton delivered a game-tying two-RBI single to center field to score Taylor and Behrends and tie up the score at 4-4.
For the next six innings, the two pitching staffs dueled it out.
Dominic Baratta (L, 3-2) was the first Bruin out of the bullpen and retired the first six batters he faced before allowing a leadoff single to start the ninth.
Kyle Brennan came on to try to keep the score at 4-4 with the leadoff man aboard and nobody out, but a couple of groundouts put the winning run at third base with two outs to set up the Cougars' walk-off hit.
Belmont outhit SIUE 9-8 in the game, yet went just 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position. The Bruins got runners to second and third base in both the seventh and eighth innings, but came away with no runs.
Belmont is scheduled to face SIUE at 3 p.m. on Friday, barring more weather-inflicted changes. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+, and live audio play-by-play will be carried on the Bruin Sports Network.
