Baseball Travels to North Alabama on Tuesday

Belmont (19-18, 5-7 MVC) at North Alabama (9-25, 3-12 ASUN) 

Tuesday, April 18 | 5 p.m. 

ESPN+ | iHeartRadio | Live Stats 

Mike D. Lane Field | Florence, Alabama 

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Belmont University baseball team will look to get back on track when they travel to Florence, Alabama, on Tuesday for a midweek clash with North Alabama. 

Belmont won handily last year in a non-conference meeting at E.S. Rose Park, 18-2, and is seeking positive momentum after falling in six of their last seven games. 

First pitch on Tuesday is set for 5 p.m. 

The game will be streamed on ESPN+, with live audio play-by-play from Dr. Rich Tiner airing on Belmont Bruins Radio on iHeartRadio, and live stats available on BelmontBruins.com. 

What's Bruin 

• Belmont is coming off a three-game sweep at the hands of Indiana State, who surged to No. 22 in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper poll after defeating the Bruins, 2-1, 10-2, and 5-3 this past weekend at E.S. Rose Park 

• Sunday's loss marked the first time Belmont had been swept at home in a conference series since 2018 

• Belmont is trying to snap a 1-6 skid that followed a stretch that saw them go 11-1 from March 17 to April 4 

• Belmont has played the toughest conference schedule of any team in the Missouri Valley, facing each of the top three teams in each of their last three weekend series, traveling to Evansville (3-0), traveling to Southern Illinois (0-3), and hosting Indiana State (0-3) 

• Belmont is 5-3 in midweek games this season, and have won four of their last five 

• Last Tuesday, Belmont defeated Austin Peay on the road, 12-6, behind eight unanswered runs over the final two innings, including six runs in the ninth 

• The Bruins also have midweek wins over Middle Tennessee State, Lipscomb, Southern Indiana, and Tennessee Tech 

• Freshman right-hander Joe Ruzicka (0-2, 5.85 ERA) is the projected Tuesday starter on the mound for the Bruins 

• The native of Webster Groves, Mo., is coming off his best career outing after going four innings while allowing no earned runs on just two hits with three strikeouts last week at Austin Peay 

• Junior third baseman Mason Landers has five multi-hit games in his last seven contests with two home runs and seven RBIs in that span 

• The native of Shelbyville, Tenn., leads the team in home runs (8), hits (42), RBIs (27), and total bases (76) 

• Redshirt freshman two-way player Ethan Harden ranks second in the MVC in saves (5) while also starting 24 games in the outfield and at designated hitter 

• Harden (2.00 ERA), Simon Tesh (2.01 ERA), and Will Pryor (2.45 ERA) all have tossed at least 22 innings each and all own sub-3.00 earned run averages as freshmen 

• Belmont leads the MVC and ranks 36th nationally in ERA (4.33) 

• Belmont also ranks top-75 nationally in WHIP (1.43), walks allowed per nine innings (4.00), hits allowed per nine innings (8.83), and shutouts (3) 

• Belmont ranks second in the MVC in opponent batting average (.256) and second in strikeouts (304) 

About the Lions 

• North Alabama is coming off their first wins in ASUN conference play, sweeping Bellamrine this past weekend, 8-6, 13-3, and 16-11. 

• Over their three wins against the Knights, North Alabama tallied 51 hits 

• The Lions' pitching staff has struggled this year, entering Tuesday with a 9.50 team ERA and 256 walks in 271 innings 

• The 2022-2023 academic year marks the first year for North Alabama with full NCAA Division I membership after transitioning from Division II 

• The Lions finished the 2022 season with a 12-41 record 

Series History 

• Belmont trails in the all-time series with North Alabama, 5-13-1, and leads in the Bruins' NCAA-era, 3-2 

• Belmont won in a run-rule contest last season, 18-2, after seven innings at E.S. Rose Park on May 11 

• Belmont scored 14 runs in the third inning en route to the victory, the most runs in a single inning since they scored an NCAA-record 20 runs in an inning against UT Martin in 2015

• Belmont and North Alabama first met in 1985 

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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