Jackson, MS-The Belhaven baseball team is gearing up for postseason play as they host the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Tournament at Smith-Wills Stadium beginning on Thursday. The tournament begins with a play-in game between Tougaloo and Loyola on Wednesday and runs through Monday May 10th. There will be three games on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday with the championship game on Monday. The Blazers, ranked 11th in the latest NAIA Top 25 Poll, finished the regular season with an overall record of 39-13 and were the GCAC regular season champions with a 26-7 mark in league play.

Belhaven is led at the plate by Timmy Foster who comes into the tournament hitting .394 with 61 runs batted in. Foster has 27 doubles on the year which is tops in the NAIA in that category and is a new Belhaven record for most doubles in a season. He also has seven home runs, five triples, and a team high 78 hits.

Craig Dean has also had a big year at the plate and is hitting at a .439 clip with a team high eight home runs. Dean is second on the team in RBI's with 48 and has collected 14 doubles and four triples. Jimmy Gilford, Lake Eiland, Drew Dillard, and Shawn Diehl have also been major contributors in the Blazers lineup day in and day out. Gilford has six home runs and 41 RBI's with a batting average of .387 while Eiland is hitting .342 with six homers and 44 runs batted in. In the leadoff spot, Dillard holds a batting average of .337 with seven triples and 43 RBI's and Diehl has recorded a .373 batting average with seven triples and a team high 26 stolen bases.

On the mound, Belhaven is anchored in the starting rotation by Brandt Hinton who is 11-0 on the season and leads the NAIA in wins. He has made 20 appearances on the season and has logged 95 innings of work while compiling an ERA of 2.75. Chris Bennett has come on strong towards the end of the season and is 5-3 with a 3.51 ERA. In 56.1 innings, he has struck out 60 opposing hitters and has held opponents to a .164 batting average. Wade Broyles has been outstanding in the back end of the bullpen and is third in the NAIA with 11 saves. Broyles, a senior transfer from Ole Miss, has an overall record of 3-0 with an ERA of 1.39. He has a team high 61 strikeouts in 32.1 innings pitched.

Belhaven kicks off the GCAC tournament by playing the winner of Wednesday's play-in game between Loyola and Tougaloo on Thursday night at 6:00 PM. The Blazers are the number one seed in this year's tournament on the strength of winning the regular season conference championship. All the play-by-play action can be heard via Stretch Internet through the Belhaven Athletics website starting with the pregame show at 5:45 PM. The GCAC Tournament website with the bracket, game recaps, box scores, and live stats can be viewed by clicking here.