Box Score
Hattiesburg, MS-The Belhaven baseball team traveled to Gulf Coast Athletic Conference rival William Carey on Friday afternoon and came away with 6-5 win in game one of a three game series with the Crusaders. It was the Blazers first conference contest since the opening weekend of the season when they won a pair of games over the University of Mobile.

Belhaven (7-1, 3-0 GCAC) got on top early and in fact scored the first five runs of the game with three of them coming in the first inning off of William Carey starting pitcher Ian Sharp. Drew Dillard was hit by a pitch to begin the game and then Jimmy Gilford followed with a single to put runners on first and second to open the top of the first. Lake Eiland came through and ripped his first double of the season plating Dillard for the game's first run. Brandon Benton had the other two RBI's in the frame thanks to a one out single that made the score 3-0 Belhaven.

The Blazers tacked on another run in the top of the second when Craig Dean led off the inning with his second long ball of the year. Belhaven then extended the advantage to 5-0 in the fourth on an RBI base hit by Shawn Diehl that scored courtesy runner Mark Gray. Catcher Alex Riser was hit by a pitch to start the inning which setup the run scoring single by Diehl.

Belhaven starting pitcher Brandt Hinton worked through the first three innings with relative ease before surrendering the Crusaders first run of the night in the fourth inning. However, William Carey (5-5, 4-3 GCAC) scored the run without the aid of a hit as errors by Eiland and Diehl led to the score on an RBI ground ball by Garrett Braley.

Trailing 5-1 going into the bottom of the sixth, the Crusaders mounted their comeback with four runs off of Hinton. Jacob Casey led the inning off with a triple and scored on a sacrifice fly by Jason Terrell. The other runs were accounted for on an RBI double by Will Dannelley, a Tyler McMullen RBI single, and a wild pitch by Golden Grasse, who had come in for Hinton, sent in Braley to knot the game at 5-5.

Belhaven would reclaim the lead in the top of the eighth on an RBI single by Dean. Paul Moreno had a one out pinch hit single and then the Blazers played small ball as Riser bunted him to second base setting the table for Dean who came through with what would prove to be the game winning hit. Belhaven closer Wade Broyles came in to pitch the final two innings and closed the door on William Carey for his third save of the season.

Grasse earned his first win in relief pitching 1.2 innings of scoreless baseball. Grasse gave up just one hit while striking out two Crusader hitters. Hinton pitched the first 5.1 innings and was charged with all five runs with four of them being earned. Eiland, Dean, and Benton led the Blazers in hits with two each while Dean and Benton both posted 2 RBI's. Diehl and Eiland accounted for one RBI apiece. As a team, Belhaven pounded out 10 hits in the game, but committed three errors.

Scotty Reese took the loss for William Carey in relief as he gave up two runs on five hits in six innings of work. Sharp started and pitched the first 1.2 innings and was charged with the other four runs. Dannelley led the Crusader offense with two of the teams' seven hits.

Belhaven will wrap up the three game series against William Carey with a doubleheader on Saturday afternoon starting at 1:00 PM. All the live play-by-play action can be heard via Stretch internet through the Belhaven Athletics website beginning with the pregame show at 12:45 PM.