Baseball Set for Final Home Series of 2023, Welcome Valparaiso on Friday

Belmont (21-28, 6-15 MVC) vs. Valparaiso (18-21, 8-13 MVC) 

Friday, May 12 | 1 p.m. 

ESPN+ | iHeartRadio | Live Stats | Game Notes 

Saturday, May 13 | 2 p.m. 

ESPN+ | iHeartRadio | Live Stats 

Sunday, May 14 | 1 p.m. 

ESPN+ | iHeartRadio | Live Stats 

E.S. Rose Park | Nashville, Tennessee 

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Belmont University baseball team wraps up their home slate of games at E.S. Rose Park in 2023 with a three-game series against Valparaiso this weekend in the Music City. 

The series begins Friday afternoon and continues through Sunday afternoon. 

Sunday will be Senior Day as Belmont honors five Bruins beginning at 12:35 p.m. 

All three games in the series will be streamed on ESPN+, with live audio play-by-play from Dr. Rich Tiner simulcast on Belmont Bruins Radio on iHeartRadio and live stats available on BelmontBruins.com. 

Admission to all games at E.S. Rose Park is free. 

What's Bruin 

• With six conference games left in the regular season, Belmont sits in ninth place in the MVC standings, one game out of the eighth spot and a place in the MVC Championship 

• Belmont has recorded at least eight hits in each of their last eight games, eclipsing ten hits in five of those games 

• Entering the final home weekend of 2023, Belmont is 14-14 at E.S. Rose Park. Belmont has had a losing record at home just twice since 2006 (2018 and 2019).  

• Junior third baseman Mason Landers leads the team in batting average (.289), home runs (11), RBIs (33), hits (56), and total bases (101) 

• Landers, a native of Shelbyville, Tenn., owns a 24-game on-base streak heading into Friday's action and leads the team with 17 multi-hit games this year 

• Junior outfielder Jeff Clarke leads the team in slugging percentage (.529) and OPS (.939) 

• Friday's projected starter on the mound is freshman right-hander Will Pryor (3-1, 3.49 ERA) 

• Pryor ranks fifth in the MVC in ERA (3.49) and 14th in opponent batting average (.263) 

• Saturday's projected starter on the mound is freshman right-hander Joe Ruzicka (0-3, 5.15 ERA) 

• Sunday's projected starter on the mound is left-hander Andy Bean (3-5, 3.38 ERA) 

• Bean, a former freshman All-American and the 2022 OVC Pitcher of the Year, has missed the last two weekends since suffering an injury at Missouri State on April 20 

• The team captain ranks ninth all-time in program history in strikeouts (215) and is tied for eighth all-time in program history in wins (18) 

• This season, Bean ranks third in the MVC in ERA (3.49), first in opponent batting average (.211), and sixth in strikeouts (62) 

• Redshirt freshman two-way player Ethan Harden is 4-for-12 (.333) at the plate in his last four games while pitching to a 3.16 ERA in 37.0 innings on the mound with 36 strikeouts to just nine walks on the season. Opponents are hitting just .191 off the left-hander. 

• Junior outfielder Max Blessinger leads the team in conference play with a .302 batting average in 21 MVC contests 

• Junior first baseman Brodey Heaton ranks fifth in Belmont's NCAA-era in career RBIs (147) and is tied for 11th in career home runs (23) 

• Junior right-handed reliever Jett Thielke's performance in relief last Saturday against UIC was ranked a top-20 outing by D1Baseball after he went six scoreless innings with seven strikeouts and no walks 

• Belmont enters Friday trying to snap a stretch of 14 losses in their last 15 conference games 

About the Beacons 

• Valparaiso sits seventh in the MVC standings after back-to-back series losses against Missouri State and Southern Illinois the past two weekends 

• The Beacons own series wins over Bradley and UIC this season 

• Right fielder Ryan Maka ranks third in the Valley in batting average (.352)  

• Valparaiso has shuffled their pitching rotation this season, with seven different Beacons starting multiple games 

• Valparaiso leads the league in on-base percentage (.386) but is tied with Belmont for ninth in home runs (40) 

Series History 

• Belmont is 4-0 all-time against Valparaiso, with meetings in 2001, 2012, and 2013 

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