Box Score Game 1   Box Score Game 2
Jackson, MS-Following a disappointing 10-8 loss to Berry College on Friday night, the Belhaven baseball team swept the Vikings in a non-conference doubleheader on Saturday afternoon at Smith-Wills Stadium. The Blazers took game one 9-5 and upended Berry in game two 8-4 on another cold and windy day at the stadium. Belhaven played much better on defense and came through with some clutch hits to win the three game series with the Vikings.

Game One:
Berry (1-2) jumped in front early in the first contest of the afternoon with a run in the top half of the first inning. Harman Watkins led the frame off with a single, stole second base and eventually crossed the plate on a base hit by Jarrett Northcutt. Belhaven starting pitcher Ryan Kassab held down the fort over the next two innings and the Blazer offense responded with a pair of runs in the bottom of the third.

Shawn Diehl stayed hot by generating a leadoff single and on an errant pickoff attempt by the pitcher Trent Hills, went to third base when the ball rolled down the right field line. Jimmy Gilford brought him in on a groundout to first base making the score 1-1. Lake Eiland then ripped a triple to right field and came into score on a misplayed ground ball by the first baseman Cory Kirkland off the bat of Brandon Benton. The Vikings committed a total of three errors in the inning which helped Blazers take a 2-1 edge.

Berry countered in the top of the fourth to knot the score at 2-2 on a home run by Tye McCleary deep over the center field fence. However, the Blazers took the lead right back with three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Paul Moreno led off with an infield single and eventually scored on a sacrifice fly by Craig Dean. Drew Dillard then delivered the biggest hit of the inning by slamming his second long ball of the year over the wall in center. The two run shot brought in Diehl and gave Belhaven a 5-2 lead.

Berry rallied once again with two runs in the top of the fifth on an RBI single by Watkins and a sacrifice fly by Brock Anderson. Golden Grasse came in from the bullpen in relief of Kassab and recorded the final two outs limiting the damage to only two runs and thus preserved a 5-4 lead for the Blazers. Belhaven (4-1) went in order in their half of the fifth and Berry tied the score at 5-5 in the top of the sixth. However, it could have been worse as the Vikings collected three hits in the inning but could only muster the one run on a pinch hit RBI single by Michael Dunlavy.

The big inning for Belhaven was the sixth when they scored four runs to take control of the game. Dean homered off Elliot Alexander to get the inning started while Diehl drove in a run on a double to the gap in right center field. Diehl came in to score on a sacrifice fly by Dillard and Eiland plated the fourth run by coming home on a wild pitch. Blazer pitcher Wade Broyles closed out the game in the top of the seventh with a one two three inning to earn the victory. Broyles came in to get the final out of the sixth inning and pitched the seventh for his first win in 2010.

Dillard paced the Belhaven offense in game one with three RBI's, Dean had two RBI's while Gilford and Diehl each tallied an single RBI. Diehl and Eiland led the hit parade with two apiece. Watkins was Berry's most productive batter in game one delivering 3 hits in 4 at bats with a run batted in. Alexander suffered the loss for Berry allowing three runs on three hits in one inning of work.

Game Two:
The first inning set the tone of the second game when Berry strung together three hits, but failed to score thanks in part to Alex Riser throwing out Watkins trying to steal second base. Belhaven responded with four runs in their half of the first inning on the strength of five hits. Eiland had an RBI single to send home Gilford with one out. Timmy Foster then tripled to center field chasing home Eiland and Foster came in on a double by Benton. Benton accounted for the fourth run on one of Dunlavy's four wild pitches in the inning.

The Blazers made it 5-0 in the bottom of the second when Gilford tripled with one out and scampered home on another wild pitch. Berry got on the board in the fourth inning with a pair of runs from a double by McCleary and a single by Madison Moss. In the bottom of the inning Belhaven answered with two runs of their own to push the lead to 7-2. Gilford walked and Eiland got hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second with one out. Foster doubled home Gilford and Eiland scored on a Benton sacrifice fly to left field.

Berry picked up single runs in the fifth and sixth off relief pitcher Paul Faulkenberry, but the Blazers added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth on a sacrifice fly by Eiland that sent in Gilford who had tripled to lead off the inning. Kiel Higginbotham came in to pitch the seventh inning and kept the Vikings off the board preserving the 8-4 victory.

Alan McHenry got the start and the win going the first 4.1 innings allowing two runs on six hits with one strikeout. Foster had a big game at the plate for Belhaven with four hits in four at bats with two RBI's and a run scored. Gilford went three for three with four runs scored and Riser had a pair of hits in the game. Eiland, Benton, and Foster each had two RBI's. McCleary, Blackburn, and Northcutt led the Berry offense with two hits each. Dunlavy was saddled with the loss allowing five runs on eight hits in three innings of work.

Belhaven will return to the field on Wednesday afternoon when they face Mississippi College in game one of the 2010 Maloney Series Trophy. The game will be played at Smith Wills Stadium beginning at 4:00 PM. All the play-by-play action can be heard via Stretch Internet through the Belhaven Athletics Website starting with the pregame show at 3:45 PM.