Baseball Ready to Open MVC Championship Against UIC on Tuesday

 
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Thanks to a road series win over Bradley during the final weekend of the regular season that clinched a spot in the conference tournament, the Belmont University baseball team heads to Terre Haute, Indiana, this week as the No. 7 seed in the 2023 MVC Championship, hosted by Indiana State at Bob Warn Field.
 
Belmont will take on No. 6 seed UIC in Game 1 of the double-elimination tournament, with the winner facing either No. 1 seed Indiana State or No. 2 seed Missouri State on Wednesday depending on the result of Tuesday's other game between No. 5 seed Murray State and No. 8 seed Valparaiso.
 
With a Belmont win and a Valparaiso win, the Bruins would play Missouri State on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. ET. With a Belmont win and a Murray State win, the Bruins would play Indiana State on Wednesday at 4 p.m. ET.
 
With a Belmont loss on Tuesday, they would play the loser of Game 2 on Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. ET.
 
The full bracket can be viewed here.
 
All games for the tournament will be streamed on ESPN+, with live audio play-by-play broadcast on Belmont Bruins Radio on iHeartRadio and live stats available on BelmontBruins.com.
 
What's Bruin

• Belmont has made two NCAA Regionals in program history, winning the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament in both 2011 and 2012
• In 2011, Belmont entered the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament as the final team making the field. As the No. 6 seed, the Bruins cruised their way through the tournament on the way to their first conference championship and a berth in the Nashville Regional, where they advanced to a Regional Final against Vanderbilt.
• Tuesday's projected starter on the mound is left-hander Andy Bean (3-5, 3.26 ERA)
• Bean is one of the most decorated pitchers in program history, ranking t-8^th in program history in wins (18), 5^th in career win percentage (.692), and eighth in strikeouts (218)
• The 2021 Freshman All-American and 2022 OVC Pitcher of the Year ranks fourth in the MVC in ERA (3.26), second in opponent batting average (.212), second in WHIP (1.10), and tied for first in opponent OPS (.630)
• Redshirt freshman two-way player Ethan Harden ranks t-3^rd in NCAA Division I among freshmen in saves this season (6) and over his last ten games is 13-for-30 (.433) at the plate
• Harden, a native of Franklin, Tenn., currently leads the team in ERA (2.72) and is 4-2 with a 0.86 WHIP and 41 strikeouts to just ten walks in 43.0 innings across 19 appearances
• Junior third baseman Mason Landers leads the team in batting average (.291), home runs (12), RBIs (39), slugging percentage (.520), and total bases (116)
• Landers, a native of Shelbyville, Tenn., currently ranks t-11^th for home runs in a single season in Belmont's NCAA-era
• Junior first baseman Brodey Heaton currently ranks fifth in Belmont's NCAA-era for career RBIs (152) and is t-11^th in career home runs (24)
• Belmont enters the tournament having won each of their last two conference series, defeating Valparaiso at home and Bradley on the road
• Belmont is 7-0 in games played in the state of Indiana over the past two seasons, including 3-0 this year after a road sweep of Evansville from April 1-2
• Belmont's bullpen has been the strength of the team—the Bruins are 13-0 when leading after three innings and 14-0 when leading after five innings this season
• Junior third baseman Mason Landers will be starting his 100^th career game on Tuesday, and junior second baseman Jack Rando will be starting his 100^th career game on Wednesday
• Right-handed pitchers Will Pryor (3.70 ERA), Simon Tesh (3.31 ERA), Joe Ruzicka (5.32 ERA), and Jake Timbes (7.06 ERA) have made significant contributions on the mound as true freshmen this season

About the Flames

• UIC has made eight NCAA Regional appearances since 2000, including most recently in 2019
• The Flames are in their first year in the Missouri Valley Conference, after several years in the Horizon League
• Graduate transfer third baseman Charlie Syzkowny played four seasons at Division III Wisconsin-Stout and was an All-American there before coming to Chicago and leading the Flames with a .347 batting average and 16 home runs to go along with 55 RBIs

Series History

• Belmont and UIC met for the first time earlier this season in Chicago from May 5-7
• The Flames swept the series, winning 13-8, 4-3, and 10-5
• Junior right-hander Jett Thielke had his best outing of the season in the second game of the season, tossing six scoreless innings in relief to keep the Bruins in the game

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