Box Score
Jackson, MS-Belhaven looked to be in control with a 5-0 lead over Berry College through five innings Friday afternoon in non-conference baseball action at Smith-Wills Stadium, but the Vikings rallied late to score 10 runs and held on for a 10-8 victory over the Blazers. Belhaven struggled on defense and couldn't muster some clutch hits which enabled Berry to stay in the game.

Brandt Hinton got the start for Belhaven and shut down the Vikings offense in the early innings. The Blazers offense got on the board in the bottom of the third inning when Shawn Diehl and Drew Dillard got things going with back to back base hits. Jimmy Gilford then walked to load the bases and Lake Eiland drove in the first run of the day on a fielder's choice that scored Diehl from third. Timmy Foster brought home the second run on a sacrifice fly to left field giving Belhaven a 2-0 edge.

The Blazers added to the lead in the fourth inning starting with Paul Moreno's first home run of the season that cleared the right field wall just inside the foul pole. Following a line out by Kyle Feazell, Craig Dean reach on an error by pitcher Scott Pollock and eventually crossed the plate on a sac fly by Diehl to make it 4-0 Belhaven. Dillard capped the inning with his first round tripper of the season blasting a pitch deep over the left center field fence off relief pitcher Cameron Rich.

Leading 5-0, the Blazer defense opened the door for Berry to climb back in the game in the top of the sixth. With two outs and a runner on first, Blake Reynolds hit a ground ball to third, but Dean's throw went off target and down the right field line enabling Tye McCleary to score on the play. Reynold's ended up at second and came home on a pinch hit single by Cory Pitts to make it a 5-2 contest.

Belhaven had a promising start to their half of the sixth inning by loading the bases with no one out. Unfortunately, the Blazers could not come up with any clutch hits and failed to score. Berry took advantage by tallying three runs in the seventh to knot the score at 5-5. Brock Anderson drove in two runs on a single to right field and run number three crossed the plate on a wild pitch by relief pitcher Chris Bennett.

Berry kept Belhaven off the board in the bottom of the seventh and took control of the game in the top of the eighth with five runs on just one hit. The Blazers committed two damaging errors leading to four of the five runs being unearned. Belhaven countered with three runs in eighth on a bases loaded groundout by Eiland and then an errant throw by Jarrett Northcutt after fielding a ground ball off the bat of Foster on a routine play at second base allowed Gilford and Diehl to score pulling the Blazers back to within two at 10-8. In the bottom of the ninth, Dean doubled and Diehl was hit by a pitch, but a double play by the Vikings stopped the rally as Berry secured the win.

Diehl had another big day at the plate going 2 for 2 with an RBI and two runs scored. Through the first three games this season, Diehl is hitting .857 with 6 hits in 7 at bats. Dean had a 3 for 5 afternoon at the dish with a double while Dillard and Moreno collected two hits and home run each. Hinton went the first 6.2 innings allowing five of the ten runs on six hits with only three of the runs being earned. Bennett took the loss allowing two runs in a third of an inning. Andy Kuehn gave up an unearned run and Riley Galloway pitched two innings and surrender two unearned runs.

Anderson had a good afternoon at the plate for Berry with two hits and two RBI's. Northcutt, Pitts, and Cory Kirkland also picked up an RBI apiece. Matthew McCalley got the win in relief by tossing the final three frames.

Belhaven will be back in action on Saturday when they take on Berry in a doubleheader at Smith-Wills Stadium beginning at 1:00 PM.