Baseball Suffers Doubleheader Loss to Southern Illinois

CARBONDALE, Ill. – Belmont (16-26, 6-9 MVC) and Southern Illinois (27-12, 10-5 MVC) concluded their three-game series with a Friday doubleheader at Itchy Jones Stadium. Scoring in game one occurred in one inning for each team. Despite Belmont's three-run response in the third inning, Southern Illinois held on for a 4-3 win. The Salukis – led by starting pitcher Meade Johnson's eight-shutout innings – blanked the Bruins 8-0 and capture a series sweep.
 
Game One Scoring Action

• Southern Illinois jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the second inning. With the bases loaded and one out, Jaxon Holder hit a sacrifice fly to center field to score the game's first run. Jordan Bach followed with a three-run homer to right field.
• Belmont responded with a crooked number of their own in the third inning. Pete Daniel jump-started the scoring with a solo home run to left-center field. Belmont caught a break on a two-out error that loaded the bases for Blake Barton, who drew a walk. Jake Maddox singled to left field – his second of the game – and scored Allen. The Bruins trailed 4-3 after the top of the third. 

Bruin Bullets

• Five Bruins had multi-hit games, led by Charlie Davis' three hits. Ty Allen, Mike Sprockett, Jake Maddox and Michael Lareau each had two hits.
• Allen, Sprockett and Lareau all doubled.
• Pete Daniel hit his third home run of the season.
• Starting pitcher Joe Ruzicka went 6.2 innings and tossed 112 pitches. He allowed four runs on five hits, walked three batters and struck out five.
• Trey Maeker followed Ruzicka with 1.1 innings of relief work, allowed one hit and recorded a punchout.

Game Two Scoring Action

• The Salukis went up 6-0 in the fourth inning. Gabe Petrucelli hit a lead-off solo home run to center field. John Lemm cranked a two-run home run to right-center field. An error by Landon Godsey allowed another run to cross. Jonathon Van Ness walked the first batter he faced to load the bases and hit the next batter. A wild pitch to the backstop allowed for the Salukis to add another. Southern Illinois took a 6-0 lead over Belmont.
• Mason Schwalbach led off the bottom of the fifth inning with a solo shot to left field.
• Southern Illinois extended their lead to 8-0 on a solo home run from Cecli Lofto in the sixth inning.

Bruin Bullets

• Gardner Lawrence went 2-for-3 and reached base three times.
• Pinch hitter Tucker Smith hit his first career double to lead off the ninth inning.
• Krish Gandhi had another scoreless relief outing, with 1.2 relief innings.

Up Next
Belmont returns to action on Tuesday, April 22, with a road game at UT Martin. First pitch from Skyhawk Field is set for 5 p.m. CT. Fans can watch the game on ESPN+ or listen live to Belmont Bruins Radio with Rich Tiner.
 
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