Box Score
Jackson, MS-The Belhaven baseball team fell to NCAA Division II Delta State University 7-3 on Tuesday night in their final regular season home game of 2009 at Smith Wills Stadium. With the loss, the Blazers are now 34-17 on the season and with the victory Delta State improves to 33-13 on the year.

                                                    

The Statesmen set the tone early with four hits and three runs in the first inning after two men were out off of Belhaven starting pitcher Joe Patterson. Clay Sartain got things going with a single and came around to score on a double to right center by Kellen Bozeman. Cade Hoggard capped off the scoring with a two-run homer, his 12^th of the season, to make the score 3-0 in favor of Delta State.

 

The Statesman extended the lead to 4-0 in the top of the third inning when Anthony Palasini singled with runners on the corners chasing home Bozeman from third base. Belhaven tried to mount a rally in the bottom of third by loading the bases with two outs. Delta State starter Jason Coats then hit Brent Hudson with the bases loaded to plate Cooper who had tripled earlier in the inning. Delta State then went to the bullpen to bring in Cody Kelley who got Charlie Edwards to ground out and end the inning stranding three runners on base.

 

Patterson settled down and pitched well up until the sixth inning when the Statesmen tacked on three more runs to take a commanding 7-1 lead. Josh Gordon blasted a solo home run to left, which was his fourth in 2009 to begin the hit parade. Steven Oswald followed with a double and went to third base on a wild pitch by Patterson. After a strikeout of Michael Niemann for the second out in the inning, Devin Goodwin laced a double down the left field line plating Oswald and then Niemann singled home Goodwin with a base hit up the middle. The Blazers then brought in Chris Bennett from the bullpen and Niemann was thrown out trying to steal to end the frame.

 

Belhaven countered with two runs in the bottom of the sixth to try and get back into the contest. Edwards led off with an infield hit and Brian McCormick doubled down the left field line with one out to put runners on second and third. Shawn Diehl then induced a walk to load the bases and Cooper was able to reach first on a fielder's choice to drive in the innings first run. Diehl was forced out at second on the play, but the second baseman Sartain threw wildly to first base in an attempt to turn the double play which enabled McCormick to score and trim the Statesman lead to 7-3.

 

However, Delta State kept the Belhaven offense in check over the final three innings to lock up the 7-3 victory. Cody Kelley got the win for the Statesmen in relief working four innings allowing two runs on three hits with five strikeouts. Kelley is now 5-2 on the year after making his fourth relief appearance of the season. Patterson took the loss in Tuesday's game to fall to 5-2 in 2009. Patterson pitched the first 5.2 innings giving up seven runs on 10 hits with four strikeouts.

 

Hudson and Cooper had the lone RBI's for the Blazers with Cooper leading the team in hits with a 2 for 5 night at the plate. Cooper also recorded his 35^th stolen base of the season which is tops on the team. Hoggard led Delta States offense with two hits and two RBI's while Goodwin, Niemann, Bozeman, Palasini, and Gordon all added RBI's. The Blazers had more chances to score but couldn't come up with the big hit stranding 12 runners on base.