Baseball Sees Bats Come Alive in 10-7 Road Win Over MTSU

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. -- Behind three home runs, the Belmont University baseball team rolled to a 10-7 win over Middle Tennessee State on Tuesday night at Reese Smith Field Jr. Field in Murfreesboro. 

Solo homers from Blake Barton and Brodey Heaton, along with a go-ahead, three-run homer in the seventh from Mason Landers, propelled a hot Bruin offense. 

Belmont (3-6) tallied 11 hits in the victory, with five different Bruins recording multi-hit performances in a game that saw four lead changes and three ties. 

Middle Tennessee (6-3) picked up 12 hits and frequently put runners in dangerous positions, but Bruin pitchers worked themselves out of jams, holding the Blue Raiders to 2-for-14 with runners in scoring position (.143). 

The victory marks the first road win for Belmont over Middle Tennessee since 2019, and the second road win since 2016. 

Belmont got on the board first in the second inning, manufacturing a pair of runs behind a Drew Lowry double that put men at second and third. Ethan Harden hit a deep fly ball that allowed Jack Rando to score before Sam Kirkpatrick singled to drive in Lowry, giving the Bruins a 2-0 lead. 

After Middle Tennessee tied it up in the bottom of the second, Barton stepped in and hit his second home run in as many games, a no-doubter to left field. After no home runs in his first 27 games at Belmont, the sophomore catcher has now homered in back-to-back contests, the first Bruin to do that since Tommy Crider last season. 

The Blue Raiders added a run in the fourth to tie the game, 3-3. 

In the sixth, Barton walked, advanced to second base on a wild pitch, got to third base on an errant pickoff attempt, then scored on a Sam Slaughter grounder. 

Middle Tennesse responded with a run in the bottom of the sixth, making the game 4-4. 

After back-to-back walks in the top of the seventh put Kirkpatrick and Max Blessinger aboard, Landers hit a towering moonshot to left field for his fourth home run of the season. 

???????????? ???????????? ?? ????-??????????, ??????????-?????? ???????????????? ??@butter_landers1 | #ItsBruinTime pic.twitter.com/gS44tKXDXj

— Belmont Baseball (@BelmontBaseball) February 28, 2023

Later in the frame, Drew Lowry added two big insurance runs with a double ripped down the left-field line, scoring Rando and Barton and giving Belmont a 9-4 lead. 

Middle Tennessee fought back, making it 9-6 going into the ninth inning. Heaton's home run to right field put the game on ice, his first long ball of the season and the 18th of his career. 

Joe Ruzicka grinded through three innings in his second career start, allowing two earned runs with four strikeouts. Will Pryor replaced him in the fourth, tossing 2 1/3 frames with only one run and a strikeout. Caleb Guisewite (W, 1-0) earned the win in relief. 

Ethan Harden came out of right field and onto the mound in the seventh inning, throwing two scoreless innings with only one hit allowed. 

Kirkpatrick, Landers, Heaton, Barton, and Lowry all tallied two hits. 

Up Next 

Belmont returns home to E.S. Rose Park this weekend for a highly-anticipated three-game series with Kansas.  

It marks the second time in three seasons that the Jayhawks out of the Big 12 will make the trek to Nashville, as Belmont took one out of three in a tight series in 2020. 

For the first time in program history, Belmont will take on a Power Five opponent on back-to-back weekeneds, after they traveled to Raleigh to square off with No. 21 NC State this past weekend. 

First pitch on Friday is scheduled for 4 p.m., while Saturday's contest will get underway at 1 p.m., and Sunday's finale will start at 11 a.m. Admission to all games at E.S. Rose Park is free. 

Live radio play-by-play of the series will be carried on the Bruin Sports Network. 

Follow Belmont baseball on social media - @BelmontBaseball on Twitter and @belmontbaseball on Instagram - for complete coverage of the Bruins. Stay up to date with all of Belmont's athletic programs via the official app of the Belmont Bruins, available both in the Apple App Store and on Google Play.                   

#ItsBruinTime