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EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. -- For the first time since joining the Ohio Valley Conference, the Belmont University baseball team secured the outright OVC regular season championship and the No. 1 seed in the OVC Championship thanks to two thrilling wins on Friday in Edwardsville, Ill., to put a bow on the most successful regular season in program history.
Belmont (37-19, 18-6 OVC) won both games of the doubleheader against Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville on Friday to secure the series win over the Cougars and the regular season championship in the process.
After dropping the series opener to SIUE on Thursday, the Bruins needed two wins on Friday combined with a Southeast Missouri loss to clinch the regular season title.
Thanks to a thrilling come-from-behind 12-11 victory in eleven innings in the first game and a home run party in a 6-2 win in the second game, the Bruins secured their first OVC championship.
Southeast Missouri's 7-5 loss to Eastern Illinois midway through the day meant two wins on Friday for the Bruins would be enough secure the program's first OVC title.
The 37 wins are tied for the most for the Bruins in a regular season in program history, equaling the 37 wins totaled by the 2013 team.
The first game on Friday went a season-long eleven innings, with the Bruins coming from down four runs to eventually emerge victorious, 12-11.
Belmont trailed 9-5 after six frames, but erupted for three runs in the seventh and two runs in the top of the ninth to take a 10-9 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth. The Cougars would then tie it to force extras, setting up a dramatic final few frames that ended with Belmont holding on to win by a run.
SIUE jumped out to a 4-0 lead after two innings, but John Behrends provided an instant lift with a towering three-run home run in the top of the third inning to make it 4-3.
The Cougars responded with a five-run home sixth inning to re-take the lead, 9-5.
However, Belmont refused to quit. RBI doubles from Carson Shacklett and Lipscomb and an RBI groundout from Heaton made it 9-8 in the seventh inning, and a clutch Behrends double in the top of the ninth drove in Drew Lowry and tied it up at 9-9.
Behrends proceeded to steal third base and then score the go-ahead run when the SIUE's throw down went awry.
In the top of the tenth, Jack Rando singled through the left side to bring in Jackson Campbell and put the Bruins back in front, 11-10. After SIUE tied it again and sent it to the eleventh inning, Mason Landers delivered the game-winning hit with a double to center field that scored Lipscomb.
Kyle Brennan (W, 3-4) recorded the final three outs in the bottom of the eleventh to secure the 12-11 victory.
Game Two of the doubleheader took on a different flavor from the previous two contests in the series, with both starting pitchers grinding out three scoreless innings before the first runs came across.
For the third time on the weekend, SIUE grabbed the first lead, plating one run in the bottom of the fourth to take a 1-0 lead.
With the score still at 1-0 going into the sixth inning, the Bruin bats awakened in a big way with an RBI Heaton double and a Landers sacrifice fly that handed Belmont the 2-1 advantage.
In the bottom of the sixth with two outs, a Cougar batter hit a towering fly ball to left field, where Drew Lowry was making his first start of the season at the position. With a perfectly-timed jump, Lowry robbed a home run from over the fence and kept Belmont in front, 2-1.
A sacrifice fly in the top of the seventh from Grayson Taylor drove in Blake Barton and give the Bruins an insurance run, shortly before Lipscomb hit his second home run of the day to right field and push the Belmont lead to 4-1.
Back to back home runs from Heaton and Tommy Crider in the eighth inning gave Belmont the necessary cushion to hold on for the 6-2 win, and send the Bruin dugout on the first base side over the railing and into a celebration.
Heaton finished 4-for-5 in the game with a home run, a double, and two RBIs. Aaron Hubbell (W, 2-2) pitched effectively in relief, going 3.1 innings while allowing just one hit and striking out four while walking one.
Belmont will be the No. 1 seed in next week's OVC Championship, to be held at Wild Health Field in Lexington, Ky.
The Bruins will have a double-bye that pushes their first game until the second day of the tournament. Belmont will face the winner of Game 3 at 11 a.m. on Thursday, May 26.
