Jackson, MS-The Belhaven baseball team had a memorable 2009 season that saw an unprecedented postseason run and a number of outstanding individual accomplishments. The Blazers won the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Tournament for the first time since 2004 and made it to the championship game of the NAIA Baseball National Championship Opening Round for the first time in the programs history. Craig Westcott was also selected as the recipient of the 2009 Cellular South Ferriss Trophy making him the top college baseball player in Mississippi as voted on by the Major League Baseball scouts and college coaches.

                                                                               

Belhaven started the season strong with six wins in their first seven contests including a 7-1 victory over Delta State University who was ranked first in the NCAA Division II Top 25 Poll at the time. The other five wins were key GCAC victories over Spring Hill College and Loyola University. The Blazers then ran into a very good LSU-Shreveport team and lost a tough three game conference series to the Pilots at home to fall to 6-4 on the year.

 

Belhaven regrouped and reeled off six straight wins and improved to 12-4. The Blazers earned a victory against Mississippi College, Bethel College, then topped Tougaloo College and McKendree University twice to account for the six victories. However, Belhaven struggled over the next nine games winning only three of those contests. The good news was that all three were against GCAC opponents including a pair of road games at the University of Mobile and a home matchup with William Carey University. At that point in the season, the Blazers were 15-10 overall and 10-7 in conference play with just over half their games on the schedule left to be played.

 

The Blazers showed resilience once again and proceeded to win their next ten games producing the longest win streak of the season. Belhaven kicked it off with a win against LSU-Alexandria followed by a GCAC three game series sweep of Spring Hill College at Smith Wills Stadium. The Blazers then traveled to Tennessee and won non-conference games against Lambuth University and Bethel College. Belhaven then came back home and swept Loyola University in a GCAC three game series and notched a 12-2 win over Mississippi College. Suddenly, the Blazers were rolling again at 25-10 on the season.

 

During the home stretch, Belhaven went 11-8 in the final 19 games of the year and closed the regular season at 36-18. The Blazers split a doubleheader at LSU-Shreveport, but then lost to Millsaps and dropped both games of a doubleheader to Union University. Belhaven rebounded with four GCAC wins over Tougaloo and after a loss to Lambuth; won four straight by topping East Texas Baptist University, Millsaps who was ranked first in NCAA Division III, and scored two victories over Mobile at home. Following losses to Mobile and Delta State, Belhaven traveled to William Carey and took two out of three games against the Crusaders heading into the GCAC tournament.

 

Having finished third at 25-10 in the GCAC standings behind first place William Carey and second place LSU-Shreveport, the Blazers drew a three seed in the conference tournament and opened up against the University of Mobile in the first round. Belhaven played well and run ruled the Rams 16-2 setting up a showdown with the Pilots the next night. Behind the pitching of Craig Westcott, the Blazers shutout LSUS 7-0 and then topped them again 9-2 the following night, thus eliminating the Pilots and vaulting Belhaven into the championship game.

 

After their loss to the Blazers, Mobile recovered and pushed their way through the loser's bracket setting up another showdown between the two schools. Belhaven was down 2-1 heading into the ninth inning, but rallied with two runs to pull out the victory and take home the tournament championship. Westcott drove in the game winning run with a double off the wall just to the left of center field plating Chanse Cooper for the 3-2 victory.

 

Belhaven then moved on to the 2009 NAIA Baseball Championship Opening Round in Cleveland, TN as the fourth seed in the tournament. The Blazers won the first two games with a 5-4 victory over Indiana Tech and a 9-7 upset win versus top seeded Tennessee Wesleyan College. The win over the Bulldogs set up a showdown with the host Lee University the next night, but unfortunately the Blazers could not match the fire power of the Flames in a 7-4 loss. The next day Belhaven eliminated Tennessee Wesleyan in the loser's bracket game, but ran out of gas that night in a 22-4 loss to Lee in the championship as the Blazers season came to a close having posted a 43-20 overall record.

 

Belhaven was led by a solid group of seniors which included Craig Westcott, Brent Hudson, Joe Patterson, Kyle Medley, Brian McCormick, Austin Fagan, Chad Howard, and Charlie Edwards. The Blazers also had outstanding play in the field from juniors Chanse Cooper, Timmy Foster, and Shawn Diehl along with sophomore Lake Eiland. Juniors Kyle Hunt and Brandt Hinton pitched well down the stretch in starting roles for the Blazers.

 

Westcott won the 2009 Cellular South Ferriss Trophy and finished the 2009 season with a record of 11-4 and an ERA of 3.29 which is the second best in school history. Westcott struck out 124 batters, which is a new Belhaven record for most strikeouts in a season. He also had seven complete games, five shutouts which ties him for first all time and is a new school single season record, two no hitters and held opposing hitters to a .199 batting average. Westcott surrendered only 27 walks in 90.1 innings of work this season.

 

Offensively, Westcott led the team with a .343 batting average and 65 RBI's. Westcott was second on the team in home runs with 11 and paced the Blazers with a .618 slugging percentage. He also walked 49 times which is a new Belhaven record for most free passes in a season.

 

Hudson finished the 2009 campaign with a .335 batting average second only to Westcott. Hudson recorded 16 doubles, three triples, blasted five home runs and drove in 42 RBI's. Edwards wrapped up his Belhaven career with a .251 batting average, nine doubles, five triples, five home runs, and 35 RBI's. Edwards is now third on Belhaven's all time list in triples with eight.

 

Cooper provided great defense in center field and ignited the offense at the top of the lineup all season long. Cooper hit .331 with 12 doubles, a team high seven triples, and racked up 48 RBI's. Cooper had a total of 81 hits and led the team in stolen bases by swiping 40 bags in 48 attempts. Cooper ranks third on the Belhaven all time career stolen bases list and set the new Belhaven single season record by eclipsing Blaise King's previous record of 39 set in 2007.

 

Foster provided the power in the Blazer lineup by launching a team high 14 home runs and collecting 61 RBI's. Foster finished the year with a .318 batting average and had 15 doubles, five triples, and the 14 home runs established and new Belhaven single season record for the most round trippers.

 

Eiland and Diehl were solid middle infielders in 2009 and came up with some clutch hits at the plate. Eiland paced the team in doubles with 20 and checked in with a .323 average with eight home runs and 55 RBI's out of the number two spot in the order. Diehl wrapped up the season with a .286 average with seven doubles and 23 RBI's. He was also second on the team in stolen bases with 19 in 20 attempts on the year.

 

McCormick was a stalwart behind home plate handling the Blazer pitching staff. He was also a major contributor on offense and provided some pop in the number eight spot in coach Denson's lineup. McCormick hit .327 with 10 doubles, eight home runs, and had 38 runs batted in.

 

Kyle Hunt, Brandt Hinton, Joe Patterson, and Kyle Medley along with Westcott anchored the Blazer pitching staff. Hunt and Hinton were second on the team in wins with seven and Patterson recorded six victories for Belhaven. Medley compiled an overall record of 1-1 with an ERA of 3.65 and 13 saves which led the GCAC. Medley now owns the Belhaven single season record for most saves and is the all time saves leader in school history with 23.

 

Belhaven had six players earn GCAC All-Conference honors for their efforts during the season. Westcott was named to the All-Conference team, was the conference pitcher of the year, and an NAIA Second Team All-American. Foster was selected as an All-Conference outfielder, Eiland was chosen as the All-Conference second baseman, McCormick was one of two GCAC All-Conference catchers, and Kyle Medley was selected as the All-Conference relief pitcher and was an NAIA Honorable Mention All-American. Edwards rounded out the list by being chosen as the GCAC Gold Glove winner in left field. Edwards had a perfect fielding percentage of 1.000 in 59 chances in left field.

 

Westcott garnered six GCAC Pitcher of the Week awards and was Named NAIA National Pitcher of the Week on March 24^th. Foster picked up one GCAC Player of the Week award and Eiland was honored by being named GCAC Player of the Week for two consecutive weeks during the home stretch of the season.

 

“I'm very proud of our team and the effort the players put forward throughout the course of the season,” says Head Coach Hill Denson. “They battled all season long and fortunately for us, the pieces fell into place enabling us to make a strong postseason run. We hope that the momentum and confidence gained during this season will carry on into 2010 as we move forward next year,” adds Denson.