Baseball Heads to WKU and Lipscomb This Week

Belmont (5-7) at Western Kentucky (9-4) 

Tuesday, March 7 | 3 p.m. 

Watch on HSSN Facebook | iHeartRadio | Live Stats | Game Notes 

Nick Denes Field | Bowling Green, Kentucky 

Belmont (5-7) at Lipscomb (5-6) 

Wednesday, March 8 | 3 p.m. 

ESPN+ | iHeartRadio | Live Stats

Ken Dugan Field | Nashville, Tennessee 

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Coming off a thrilling series win at home over Kansas, the Belmont University baseball team will now take to the road for a pair of midweek matchups with familiar foes. 

On Tuesday, Belmont travels to Bowling Green, Ky., for a rematch with Western Kentucky. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m. The game will be streamed on Hilltopper Sports Properties' Facebook page, and live radio play-by-play will be carried on Belmont Bruins Radio on iHeartRadio. 

On Wednesday, the Bruins make the short trip down Belmont Boulevard for their first meeting of the season with arch-rival Lipscomb at Ken Dugan Field. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m. The game will be streamed on ESPN+, and live radio play-by-play will be broadcast on Belmont Bruins Radio on iHeartRadio. 

What's Bruin 

• Belmont is coming off one of the biggest non-conference series wins in program history, as the Bruins took down Kansas on Friday at E.S. Rose Park, 7-5, and again on Sunday, 7-4, after falling on Saturday, 5-0 

• It marked the first home series win over a Power Five opponent since 2001, when Belmont took two of three games from Iowa 

• The win also secured Belmont's first-ever series victory over a team from the Big 12 Conference 

• Belmont has now won series over Power Five opponents in consecutive years for the first time since 2000-2001. The Bruins swept Purdue on the road last season in West Lafayette, Indiana 

• In Friday's victory over the Jayhawks, sophomore catcher Blake Barton went 3-for-4 with a triple, two doubles, and three RBIs. With the game tied 5-5 in the seventh inning, the native of Franklin, Tenn., ripped a two-out, two-run double to give Belmont a 7-5 lead they wouldn't relinquish. 

• Junior pitcher Andy Bean delivered a clutch performance on Friday, going 6 1/3 innings with only three hits and three runs allowed. The native of Fisherville, Tenn., collected nine strikeouts while only issuing two walks. The nine punchouts were the most by a Belmont pitcher against a Power Five team since Dylan King struck out 11 in a win over Northwestern in 2017 

• Junior reliever Jett Thielke tossed 2 2/3 scoreless innings in relief on Friday, allowing just two hits and no runs while striking out four with no walks to earn the win 

• On Sunday, junior pitcher Dominic Baratta came through with a career-best outing, going seven innings with only two runs allowed in a 7-4 Belmont win 

• Redshirt freshman Ethan Harden secured his first save of the season by pitching a scoreless ninth inning on Sunday 

• Belmont broke open the series in the fourth inning on Sunday, sending ten batters to the plate and scoring all seven of their runs with two outs on six hits 

• Junior shortstop Sam Kirkpatrick has six multi-hit games this season, and is 5th in the Missouri Valley Conference in batting average (.432) 

• Belmont had entered the Kansas series 0-5 on the season when not hitting a home run, but secured both victories over the Jayhawks without clearing the fences 

• Tuesday's projected starter on the mound for Belmont will be freshman right-hander Joe Ruzicka (0-0) 

• This week marks the first and only time this season that Belmont will play two midweek games on consecutive days 

About the Hilltoppers 

• WKU won nine of their first 11 games, getting out to their best start since 2009 

• Belmont pitching coach A.J. Gaura played for first-year WKU head coach Marc Rardin at Iowa Western Community College, winning the NJCAA D1 National Championship in 2012 together 

• WKU won the first meeting between the Bruins and Hilltoppers this season, 9-7, on February 21 at E.S. Rose Park 

• Five of the last six games between Belmont and WKU have been decided by two or fewer runs 

• Tuesday marks the 54th meeting in Belmont's Division I-era against WKU, with the Hilltoppers leading the series, 27-26  

• The two programs have played 73 times overall since first getting together in 1954  

• Belmont split two games with the Hilltoppers last season, winning, 8-7 in extra innings on a walk-off walk from Drew Lowry on March 15 at E.S. Rose Park and falling, 9-8, in the rematch at Nick Dedes Field in Bowling Green on April 5  

• WKU has won ten of the last 13 meetings 

About the Bisons 

• Lipscomb will face (rv) Georgia Tech in Atlanta on Tuesday before Wednesday's Battle of the Boulevard game 

• The Bisons are coming off a sweep at the hands of Auburn this past weekend, with a pair of one-run losses to the Tigers on both Saturday (12-11) and Sunday (4-3) 

• Lipscomb started the 2023 season with a huge upset series win at home over 2022 College World Series participant Notre Dame 

• Lipscomb head coach Jeff Forehand is a former Belmont second baseman (1986-1989) 

• Belmont clinched their first NCAA Tournament bid in school history at Ken Dugan Field in 2011, winning the Atlantic Sun Championship game over Mercer, before advancing to the Nashville Regional Final 

• Wednesday marks the 156th Battle of the Boulevard all-time between Belmont and Lipscomb (Lipscomb leads 90-65) 

• Since Belmont transitioned to NCAA Division I starting in 1998, Belmont is 34-21 in the series 

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