Box Score
Cleveland, TN-The Belhaven baseball team rallied from a 6-2 deficit and upset top seeded Tennessee Wesleyan College on Tuesday night 9-7 in the 2009 NAIA Baseball National Championship Opening Round. The Blazers (42-18) scored two runs in the seventh, two more in the eighth, and three in the ninth to pull out the victory over the Bulldogs (43-14). It was the second win of the day for Belhaven who had topped Indiana Tech 5-4 to open the tournament earlier in the afternoon.

 

The Blazers fell behind early in the bottom of the first when Tennessee Wesleyan got on the board with a pair of runs off Belhaven starting pitcher Brandt Hinton. Hinton gave up a one out walk to the catcher Matt Stanley and then Allen Wimmer singled to right putting runners at first and second. Hinton got Tyler Moyneur to pop out, but surrendered an RBI double to Eddie Van Es and a run scoring single to Gary Tucker. The Bulldogs then loaded the bases, but Hinton got Brad Pippa to ground out to end the frame and limit the damage.

 

Belhaven rallied to tie the score in the top of the second after two men were out. Brent Hudson shot a one out single to right and after an Edwards fly out, Craig Dean laced a double down the right field line putting runners on second and third. Brian McCormick delivered the first of two clutch two out hits with a single down the left line that chased home Hudson and Dean to tie the game at 2-2.

 

The game stayed deadlocked at 2-2 until the bottom of the fifth when Tennessee Wesleyan took a 6-2 lead with four runs on four hits. With one out, Brandon Munsey singled, stole second and came in on a double by Stanley. After a Wimmer pop out to third base, Moyneur singled up the middle to drive in courtesy runner Tanner Quirk to make it a 4-2 game. Moyneur advanced the second on the throw home and crossed the plate on a throwing error by shortstop Shawn Diehl on a ground ball off the bat of Van Es. Van Es proceeded to steal second and came in on Tucker's two out single to right center to cap the inning.

 

Belhaven began to chip away at Tennessee Wesleyan's lead in the seventh thanks to a leadoff single by Chanse Cooper followed by a two run home run by Lake Eiland. It was Eiland's seventh homer of the year and third in the postseason. Eiland came up big again in the eighth with two more runs batted in. McCormick dropped a one out single into center field and Diehl ripped a base hit to right to place runners on first and second driving pitcher Justin Crowell from the game.

 

Gabe Rios came in and got Cooper to ground out to first base, however he was able to move the courtesy runner Gray to third and Diehl to second. That's when Eiland grounded the ball through the middle of the infield plating Gray and Diehl to tie the game with his 52^nd and 53^rd RBI's on the season.

 

Hinton got the first man out in the bottom of the eighth, but walked Tucker and Belhaven made the call to Golden Grasse in the bullpen. Tucker immediately stole second base and went to third on a ball four wild pitch to Pippa to put runners on the corners with one out. Then in what may have been the turning point in the contest, Grasse came back to strike out Andrew Earl and Brandon Daggett to end the inning and escape without allowing a run to cross the plate.

 

The Belhaven offense rode the momentum into the ninth striking for three runs against Rios. Chad Howard, who had entered the game defensively in the bottom of the seventh, worked the count full and induced a leadoff walk to open the inning. Hudson followed with a bunt single and then Edwards reached base on a sacrifice bunt due to Daggett's dropped ball at first base. Howard scored on the play to give Belhaven their first lead of the night at 7-6 as Hudson and Edwards went to second and third on the error.

 

Craig Dean brought in the innings second run on a base hit up the middle off relief pitcher Jason Ferguson scoring Hudson from third, but Edwards was thrown out trying to go home on the play for the first out with Dean advancing to second. McCormick then picked up his third RBI of the game and 37^th on the year with his third hit of the game on a base hit to left center extending the Blazers lead to 9-6.

 

Kyle Medley came in to pitch the ninth and once again struggled to find command of his pitches. Medley walked the first two batters, but came back to strike out Wimmer and Moyneur and it appeared he had found his rhythm again. However, Van Es singled up the middle to load the bases and then Tucker walked to bring home the seventh run of the contest for the Bulldogs.

 

Pinch hitter Deacon Park looked at two pitches out of the zone from Medley and then the Blazers went to the bullpen for Chris Bennett to try and close out the game. Bennett made quick work of Park by blowing three fast balls by him to record the strike out and the save which was his second of the year preserving the 9-7 win.

 

Hinton went the first 7.1 innings allowing six runs, four of which were earned, on nine hits with two K's. Grasse pitched two thirds of an inning and got the win to improve to 3-1 in 2009. Crowell also went 7.1 innings for the Bulldogs and was charged with six runs on 10 hits with seven strikeouts. Rios took the loss for Tennessee Wesleyan with three runs allowed in 0.2 innings on the mound.

 

Eiland had four RBI's on two hits and McCormick recorded three RBI's on three hits to lead the Belhaven offense. Dean also collected three hits and a run batted in for the Blazers. Cooper and Edwards also each picked up a stolen base in the victory. Tucker had two hits and three RBI's to go along with three stolen bases to pace the Bulldog offense.