Baseball Prepares for #1 Tennessee

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - - Belmont (24-17) travels to No. 1 Tennessee (42-10) Tuesday in the final midweek contest of the regular season. First pitch from Lindsey Nelson Stadium is scheduled for 4 p.m. CT. Fans can stream the game on SEC Network +, listen to the Bruins Sports Network on iHeartRadio or follow along with live stats.
 
SERIES RECAP VS. MISSOURI STATE (MAY 10-12)
Belmont won their final home series of the season, 2-1.

• Brodey Heaton became Belmont's all-time leader in RBIs on Wednesday against Austin Peay. Heaton hit a three-run home run for his 214^th career RBI. Heaton finished the week with a team-leading seven RBIs and his career total sits at 217. On Friday, Heaton's 14^th home run of the season moved him to second all-time in career home runs with 41. 
• Jack Rando and Sam Slaughter led the team with six hits during the week. Slaughter hit the walk-off single in Friday's ten-inning win over the Bears.
• Michael Lareau went 4-for-7 with two home runs and four RBIs.
• Joe Ruzicka improved to 4-4 on the season behind his seven innings of work on Saturday. He allowed two runs, one earned, and struck out four batters

WHAT'S BRUIN?

• Sam Slaughter carries a 20-game on-base streak dating back to Apr. 13.
• Mason Landers and Jack Rando both earned recognition from D1baseball in their Week 12 Position Rankings. Landers was ranked the 30th third basemen and Rando was ranked the 41st second basemen in the nation.
• Landers's team-high 18 home runs are tied for the fifth-most in the MVC. Landers is three home runs away from surpassing Nate Wood's 20 home runs from the 2010 season for the most in a single season.
• Landers leads the Bruins in batting average (.333), runs (46), slugging percentage (.662), hits (67) and total bases (133).
• Rando, Heaton, and Slaughter each have seven hits in their last five games. The trio have combined for 13 RBIs, 12 runs and seven extra-base hits.
• Landers and Heaton have combined for 37 multi-hit and 28 multi-RBI games.
• Slaughter and Rando have six-game hit streak.
• Heaton and Slaughter have nine hits and two home runs in eight games against top-25 opponents.
• Landers is batting .407 with 35 hits, 11 home runs and 36 RBIs in 20 road games this season. 
• Former Belmont men's basketball hall of fame head coach Rick Byrd is a native of Knoxville, Tennessee. Byrd's father, Ben, was a longtime sports editor and columnist in Knoxville.
• Former Belmont student-athletes Emily Proud (women's soccer) and Madison Blevins Hock (women's basketball) were sports anchor/reporters in Knoxville. Proud currently works for CBS Sports (national) and Blevins Hock works for Bally Sports Southwest/NOLA
• Pitcher Simon Tesh is a native of Knoxville.
• Former Belmont All-American Matt Beaty, a native of Dresden, Tennessee, won a World Series championship with 2020 Los Angeles Dodgers.

SCOUTING REPORT: TENNESSEE VOLUNTEERS

• Tennessee enters the week at the top-ranked team in the nation for the second consecutive week.
• The Vols won their eighth straight SEC series over the weekend against No. 25 Vanderbilt.
• Tennessee is 31-1 at home this season at Lindsey Nelson Stadium which marks the fourth consecutive season with 30 or more home victories.
• Christian Moore leads the team with a .380 batting average, 79 hits, 23 home runs and a .774 slugging percentage. Moore is tied with Dylan Dreiling for the team lead in RBIs with 56 each.
• The Vols rank in the top 15 in Division I in batting average, hits, slugging percentage, runs, doubles, home runs and earned run average.

MATCHUP HISTORY

• Belmont is 4-14 all-time against Tennessee.
• The Vols are 13-4 against Belmont in Knoxville.
• Belmont lost last season's meeting 9-5 in eight innings on May 16.
• Tennessee has won the last nine contests dating back to 2015.

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