Baseball to Face No. 6 Vanderbilt at First Horizon Park on Tuesday

Belmont (7-10) vs. No. 6 Vanderbilt (12-5) 

Tuesday, March 14 | 6 p.m. 

ESPN+ | iHeartRadio | Live Stats | Tickets | Game Notes 

First Horizon Park | Nashville, Tennessee 

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Looking for their first win over a top-10 opponent since 2018, the Belmont University baseball team will take on No. 6 Vanderbilt in a highly-anticipated neutral site clash at First Horizon Park, home of the Nashville Sounds, on Tuesday night. 

First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. Gates open at 5:30 p.m. 

General admission tickets can be purchased here.  

$4 from every ticket purchased benefit the Live Like Lou fund for ALS research.  

The game will be streamed on ESPN+, and live radio play-by-play will be broadcast on Belmont Bruins Radio from iHeartRadio. Live stats will be available on BelmontBruins.com. 

What's Bruin 

• Belmont is coming off a 4-3 win over Western Illinois at home on Sunday 

• Behind 11 strikeouts from Dominic Baratta on the mound and a go-ahead home run from Mason Landers in the seventh inning, the Bruins recorded their seventh win of the season 

• The 11 punchouts from Baratta were the most by a Bruin at home since Joshua South tallied 11 on May 14, 2022 

• Junior shortstop Sam Kirkpatrick leads the Missouri Valley Conference in hits (24) 

• Sophomore catcher Blake Barton is second in the MVC in doubles (7) 

• Barton's younger brother, Hudson, is a Vanderbilt Baseball commit in the Class of 2024 

• Junior third baseman Mason Landers is tied for third in the MVC in home runs (5) 

• Belmont is 2-4 against Power Five opponents this season, with a series loss on the road at No. 21 NC State on February 24-26 and a series win over Kansas at home on March 3-5 

• Belmont has won series against Power Five opponents in back-to-back seasons 

• Belmont's schedule this year has a heavy Volunteer State flavor, as it features home-and-home matchups with Middle Tennessee and Lipscomb, midweek games against Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Tennessee Tech, and Austin Peay, and a three-game series against UT Martin 

• Nine Bruins hail from the Nashville area and the surrounding suburbs: Sam Kirkpatrick (Franklin), Sam Slaughter (Smyrna), Aaron Hubbell (Mt. Juliet), Blake Barton (Franklin), Ethan Harden (Franklin), Jordan Zuger (Hendersonville), Jack Rando (Brentwood), Caleb Guisewite (Greenbrier), and Cade Granzow (Franklin) 

• Junior first baseman Brodey Heaton went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI against Vanderbilt last season in their game at First Horizon Park 

• Last year, Belmont led Vanderbilt, 3-1, in the fourth inning before the Commodores tied things, 3-3, in the fourth and jumped ahead with a ten-run fifth inning 

• Redshirt freshman Ethan Harden has been one of the most dynamic players in the MVC this season. The native of Franklin, Tenn., hit his first career home run on Saturday against Western Illinois, has started ten games in right field and two games in center field, and has been Belmont's best relief pitcher as well, making six appearances and one start and recording a 0.93 ERA in 9.2 innings with eight strikeouts and only one walk. 

• In Belmont's last midweek game on Wednesday, March 8, the Bruins defeated archrival Lipscomb, 4-1, in the Battle of the Boulevard 

• Freshman right-hander Joe Ruzicka (0-1, 5.00 ERA) is the projected starter on the mound for Belmont  

About the Commodores 

• Vanderbilt checked in at No. 6 in Monday's newest D1Baseball Top 25 rankings 

• The Commodores are coming off a series win at home over Loyola Marymount 

• Vanderbilt owns one of the country's best pitching staffs, entering Tuesday with a 2.98 ERA on the season  

• Prior to giving up nine runs to LMU on Sunday, Vanderbilt had allowed just three runs in the previous five games 

• The Commodores collected a combined no-hitter at Minnesota on March 5 

• Vanderbilt is 4-1 in midweek games this year, with a 5-4 loss to Central Arkansas on Feb. 21 

• Vanderbilt played a 17-inning thriller against Belmont's new MVC foe, Evansville, last Wednesday at Hawkins Field, winning 2-1 on a walk-off single 

• Belmont head coach Dave Jarvis and Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin have been long-time friends since Corbin took the head job prior to the 2003 season 

• Vanderbilt won national championships in 2014 and 2019 and have made the NCAA Tournament in 16 consecutive seasons 

Series History 

• In Belmont's Division I-era, since 1998, the Bruins have taken eight of 27 from the Commodores 

• Tuesday marks the 79th meeting all-time between Belmont and Vanderbilt, with the Commodores leading the series, 59-19 

• Last season at First Horizon Park, fourth-ranked Vanderbilt defeated Belmont, 13-4 

• Belmont's last win over a top-10 Vanderbilt team came on March 22, 2018, when they took down the eighth-ranked Commodores, 8-4 

• In 2015, Belmont upset No. 4 Vanderbilt, 3-2, at Hawkins Field, the highest-ranked opponent Belmont has defeated in any sport since joining NCAA Division I, and beat No. 6 Vanderbilt, 4-1, the same season at E.S. Rose Park 

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.                     

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