UT Martin Preview

The games on Friday and Saturday will be streamed on ESPN+, and live audio play-by-play of all three games will be broadcast on the Bruin Sports Network. 

First pitch on Friday is scheduled for 5 p.m., Saturday's game will start at 4 p.m., and Sunday's series finale will begin at 1 p.m. 

What's Bruin 

• Belmont did not have a midweek game this past week, only the second week this season where there had not been a game on either a Tuesday or Wednesday 

• The Bruins were most recently in action last weekend at home against Southeast Missouri, falling on Friday in extra-innings, 5-4, before winning on Saturday, 5-3, and dropping Sunday's series finale, 11-4 

• With 28 victories, the Bruins have their most wins since 2017, when they went 31-29 

• Since March 20, junior outfielder John Behrends has a hit in 22 of 24 games, and is batting .396 with four home runs and eleven stolen bases 

• Tommy Crider leads the team with ten home runs, and has three multi-homer games this season, most recently against Purdue two weekends ago in a 3-2 win over the Boilermakers 

• Kyle Brennan leads the country in saves (13). The graduate closer is the all-time program record holder for career saves (30), and was recently named to the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Stopper of the Year Award Midseason Watch List 

• Belmont's projected rotation for this weekend will be: LHP Andy Bean (7-1, 4.12 ERA) on Friday, RHP Joshua South (6-2, 5.37 ERA) on Saturday, and LHP Jalen Borders (4-2, 2.95 ERA) on Sunday 

• Bean, a sophomore from Fisherville, Tenn., has gone at least six innings in each of his last seven starts. The left-hander is tied for 14th in the country in wins (7) and is 2nd in the OVC in opponent batting average (.207), 2nd in innings pitched (63.1), and 8th in ERA (4.12) 

• South, a junior from Cookeville, Tenn., is currently tied for 7th in career strikeouts at Belmont (217) and is coming off a season-high nine strikeouts on a season-high 122 pitches in an eight-inning performance against Southeast Missouri on Saturday 

• Borders, a sophomore from Alexandria, Ala., has only allowed four home runs this season in 58 innings on the mound, the best mark in the OVC. The left-hander is currently 4th in the OVC in ERA (2.95), 4th in opposing batting average (.243), and 6th in innings pitched (58.0) 

• Guy Lipscomb is currently 2nd in the country in stolen bases (32) and is already the program's single-season record holder for stolen bases in a single season. The recently named Belmont Athletics Male Athlete of the Year is 3rd in the OVC in batting average (.390), 3rd in on-base percentage (.476), and 4th in hits (62). 

• On April 26 with an 8-2 victory over Evansville, the Bruins gave Dave Jarvis his 700th win at Belmont, making him one of 16 active coaches with 700 Division I wins at their current school 

About the Skyhawks 

• UT Martin is coming off an 11-10 loss in 12 innings at Memphis on Tuesday. The Skyhawks lost on a walk-off hit-by-pitch 

• The Skyhawks are ranked 260th in NCAA Division I in batting average (.248) and 263rd in runs (202) 

• UT Martin was picked to finish last in the Preseason OVC Poll 

• The Skyhawks have won one conference series this season, taking two out of three from Tennessee Tech on April 22-24, winning the final two games, 24-17 and 10-9 

• Senior shortstop Casey Harford leads the team with a .333 batting average and 10 home runs 

Series History 

• Belmont leads the all-time series, 45-26, and has won 14 of the last 17 games 

• The Bruins have played the Skyhawks 66 times in Belmont's Division I Era (since 1998), the most of any opponent 

• The first meeting came in 1958 in Martin, with UT Martin winning, 7-2 

• The two teams played one of the most memorable games in Division I history on March 29, 2015, with Belmont winning 34-10. The Bruins set NCAA records for plate appearances (23), total bases (43), RBIs (20) and home runs (7) in an inning on their way to scoring 20 runs in the sixth frame