Baseball Begins Final Homestand With 157th Battle of the Boulevard

Belmont (21-27, 6-15 MVC) vs. Lipscomb (27-21, 18-6 ASUN) 

Tuesday, May 9 | 1 p.m. 

iHeartRadio | Live Stats 

E.S. Rose Park | Nashville, Tennessee 

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Two programs with rich history and tradition meet Tuesday afternoon in the 157th Battle of the Boulevard as the Belmont University baseball team hosts Lipscomb at E.S. Rose Park. 

First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. 

Live audio play-by-play will be carried on Belmont Bruins Radio on iHeartRadio and live stats will be available on BelmontBruins.com. 

What's Bruin 

• Belmont enters Tuesday coming off a conference series loss over the weekend in Chicago to the UIC Flames 

• For the weekend, Belmont out-hit UIC, 34-33, but fell 13-8, 4-3, and 10-5 across the three games in the Windy City 

• The Bruins have won four of their last five midweek contests, and are 6-4 in midweek games this year 

• Tuesday's projected pitcher is junior left-hander Jalen Borders 

• Borders, a member of both the All-OVC Second Team and All-OVC Tournament team in 2022, has not started a game since suffering an injury during his first appearance of the year against UT Martin on February 18 

• Borders, a native of Alexandria, Ala., finished 5-2 last season with a 3.04 ERA, tossing 80.0 innings over 15 starts with 61 strikeouts, and leading the OVC in fewest home runs allowed among qualified pitchers (5) 

• Junior third baseman Mason Landers enters Tuesday owning a 23-game on base streak 

• Junior outfielder Max Blessinger is 11-for-25 (.444) over his last seven games with six RBIs 

• Sophomore catcher Blake Barton is coming off a 3-for-4 game against UIC on Sunday, his first career three-hit game 

• Junior right-handed pitcher Jett Thielke was magnificent in relief on Saturday, tossing six scoreless innings out of the bullpen against the Flames with seven strikeouts and no walks 

• Junior first baseman Brodey Heaton is riding an eight-game hitting streak, batting .333 (12-for-36) with three doubles and seven RBIs 

• Heaton ranks fifth in Belmont's NCAA-era for career RBIs (147) and needs two more home runs to crack the top-ten for career home runs (23) 

• Nine Bruins hail from the Nashville area and the surrounding suburbs: Sam Kirkpatrick (Franklin), Sam Slaughter (Smyrna), Aaron Hubbell (Mt. Juliet), Blake Barton (Franklin), Ethan Harden (Franklin), Jordan Zuger (Hendersonville), Jack Rando (Brentwood), Caleb Guisewite (Greenbrier), and Cade Granzow (Franklin) 

• Belmont ranks third in the Missouri Valley Conference in steals (56) 

About the Bisons 

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

• Lipscomb is coming off a sweep of Kennesaw State, and is currently tied for first in the ASUN with an 18-6 mark in conference play 

• Lipscomb has won six of their last seven games and eight of their last ten 

• In Lipscomb's last midweek contest on Tuesday, May 2, the Bisons upset No. 6 Arkansas in a neutral site game in Little Rock, Arkansas, besting the Razorbacks, 8-6, in 11 innings 

• Lipscomb has hit 78 home runs this year, good for 34th in NCAA Division I, and have four players with at least 12 home runs 

Series History 

• Belmont has won five of the last seven and 11 of the last 14 meetings 

• Belmont took the first matchup between the two teams earlier this year, winning 4-1 at Ken Dugan Field behind excellent pitching from Ethan Harden, Simon Tesh, Will Pryor, Caleb Guisewite, and Jett Thielke 

• Tuesday marks the 157th Battle of the Boulevard all-time between Belmont and Lipscomb (Lipscomb leads 90-66)  

• Since Belmont transitioned to NCAA Division I starting in 1998, Belmont is 35-21 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.             

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