Baseball, Belmont Defeats Illinois State 7-3 in Elimination Game

NORMAL, Ill. – No. 6 Belmont (26-33) and No. 5 Illinois State (28-28) met in an elimination game Thursday afternoon at Duffy Bass Field. The Bruins captured momentum early with a 6-0 lead after the top of the fifth inning. A strong start from Zane Brown and clutch at-bats lifted Belmont to a 7-3 victory.
 
Scoring Action

• Ty Allen hit a two-run home run in the first inning.
• Dean Spoto added to Belmont's lead with an RBI single in the second inning.
• The Bruins went up 4-0 after Blake Barton's solo home run in the fourth inning.
• In the fifth inning, Mike Sprockett drove in two more runs on a single to center field. Belmont's lead grew, 6-0.
• Illinois State got on the board in the bottom of the fifth inning. Noah Smith hit an RBI single down the left field line and was thrown out at second attempting to leg out a double by Ty Allen.
• Michael Lareau hit an RBI single in the eighth inning to make it a 7-1 Belmont advantage.
• Illinois State scored twice in the eighth inning. Smith hit a solo home run and Daniel Contreras hit a sacrifice fly. The Redbirds couldn't mount a comeback, as Belmont advanced to the next round with a 7-3 win.

Bruin Bullets

• Ty Allen went 2-for-4 with a two-run home run, his 11^th dinger of the season.
• Blake Barton hit his sixth home run of the season.
• Mike Sprockett recorded two RBIs. In three MVC Championship games, Sprockett has a team-high nine RBIs.
• Michael Lareau and Dean Spoto both had RBI base hits.
• Zane Brown earned the win and improved to 3-6 on the season. Brown allowed only one run on six hits in 6.1 innings. He struck out two batters and threw 84 pitches.
• Andrew Perry sealed the deal for the Bruins by recording the final two outs of the game, including a strikeout to end the game.
• Four Bruins have recorded six hits in the MVC Baseball Championship: Landon Godsey, Sprockett, Barton and Davis.

Up Next
Belmont's next game – on Friday, May 23 – has yet to be scheduled. An official schedule will be announced by the Missouri Valley Conference tonight. Fans are encouraged to visit belmontbruins.com for complete coverage of Belmont's postseason journey. All games of 2025 MVC Baseball Championship will be broadcast on ESPN+ and available on Belmont Bruins Radio.
 
Follow Belmont baseball on social media - @BelmontBaseball on X 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.