Baseball Heads to Southern Illinois for Battle of First-Place Teams

Belmont (18-12, 5-1 MVC) at Southern Illinois (16-13, 5-1 MVC) 

Thursday, April 6 | 6 p.m. 

ESPN+ | iHeartRadio | Live Stats | Game Notes 

Friday, April 7 | 6 p.m. 

ESPN+ | iHeartRadio | Live Stats 

Saturday, April 8 | 2 p.m. 

ESPN3 | iHeartRadio | Live Stats 

Itchy Jones Stadium | Carbondale, Illinois 

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Winners of 11 of their last 12, the Belmont University baseball team travels to Southern Illinois this weekend for an important three-game series between two teams tied atop the Missouri Valley Conference standings. 

Belmont and Southern Illinois, both 5-1 in MVC action, will meet Thursday evening, Friday evening, and Saturday afternoon at Itchy Jones Stadium in Carbondale, Illinois. 

All three games will be streamed on ESPN platforms, with live audio play-by-play from Dr. Rich Tiner carried on Belmont Bruins Radio on iHeartRadio. Live stats will be available on BelmontBruins.com, and in-game highlights will be posted to Twitter by @BelmontBaseball. 

What's Bruin 

• Since a loss to No. 6 Vanderbilt on March 14, Belmont has won 11 of their last 12 games 

• On Tuesday, the Bruins improved to 4-3 in midweek games with a 9-4 victory over Tennessee Tech at E.S. Rose Park 

• Belmont's bullpen allowed just one run in the final seven innings, and eight different Bruins tallied hits in a balanced team win 

• Last weekend, Belmont picked a statement sweep on the road over Evansville, who had entered the weekend ranked No. 37 in RPI 

• Belmont cruised through the first two games, winning 8-1 and 9-2, before pulling out a thrilling 7-5 win in 13 innings in the series finale over the Purple Aces 

• In his last five starts, left-handed pitcher Andy Bean is 3-1 with a 2.12 ERA. In 34.0 innings, the ace has 36 strikeouts to just nine walks, holding opponents to a .190 batting average with only one home run 

• Bean tallied his 18th career win last weekend against Evansville, moving into a tie with Joshua South and Josh Davis for 8th-most all time. Kyle Brennan and James Buckelew are tied for 6th with 19 career victories. 

• Bean owns 199 career strikeouts, and with one more would become the 11th pitcher in program history to eclipse 200 

• Belmont leads the MVC in ERA (4.36) and opponent batting average (.252), and is third in strikeouts (248) 

• Freshman reliever Will Pryor is riding a 13 1/3 scoreless inning streak, having not allowed a run since March 10 with 15 strikeouts and only one walk 

• Redshirt freshman two-way player Ethan Harden became what is believed to be the first player in program history with a home run and a save in the same game when he accomplished the feat last Sunday against Evansville 

• Harden owns a 1.35 ERA in 11 appearances on the mound and ranks second in the MVC with five saves 

• After a pair of home runs last weekend, junior first baseman Brodey Heaton moved into the top-10 in Belmont's NCAA-era for career RBIs, currently ranking 9th with 131 career runs batted in 

• Junior shortstop Sam Kirkpatrick had one of the best individual performances in recent memory last weekend in the 13-inning win over Evansville, going 5-for-7 with four stolen bases. 

• The four stolen bases are tied for the second-most in an NCAA Division I game this year, and the five hits were the most by a Bruin since Ben Kocher tallied five hits against SIUE in 2018 

• Belmont has not lost a conference road series since May 14-15, 2021, at Eastern Kentucky, going 4-0 in 2022 plus last weekend's sweep of Evansville 

• Belmont has not scored fewer than six runs in each of its last six games (6, 7, 8, 9, 7, 9) 

About the Salukis 

• Southern Illinois, along with Belmont and Indiana State, is one of three teams tied atop the MVC standings with a 5-1 conference mark 

• The Salukis own the best offense in the MVC, ranking first in batting average (.289), first in slugging percentage (.485), first in home runs (44), and second in runs scored (209) 

• Southern Illinois was picked the preseason favorite in the 2023 preseason coaches' poll, receiving six first-place votes, after going 44-16 last year on the way to their first MVC regular season title since 1990 

• The Salukis swept UIC over the first weekend in conference play before taking two out of three from Bradley last week 

• Shortstop Kaeber Rog is the reigning MVC Joe Carter Player of the Year, and was named one of two preseason All-Americans on the Saluki roster along with reliever Matthew Steidl 

Series History 

• Belmont and Southern Illinois have met 12 times in the Bruins' Division I-era, splitting the series evenly, 6-6 

• All 12 meetings have come since 2012, though this weekend marks the first weekend series played between the two programs 

• Belmont last traveled to Carbondale on March 26, 2019, falling 10-4 

• Belmont won the last meeting with the Salukis, defeating Southern Illinois, 4-3, at E.S. Rose Park during the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season 

• That win marked the first collegiate start and first collegiate win for current staff ace Andy Bean, who tossed five innings with six strikeouts 

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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