Box Score Game 1    Box Score Game 2
Mobile, AL-The Belhaven baseball team split a Gulf Coast Athletic Conference doubleheader at Spring Hill College on Saturday afternoon winning game one 17-8 while falling in game two 12-0. The Blazers, ranked 15th in the latest NAIA Top 25 Poll, had plenty of offensive support for pitcher Paul Faulkenberry in game one, but could only scratch together four hits in the second game. Each team had a seven run third inning on Saturday as Belhaven engineered theirs in game one with the Badgers scoring seven times in the third in game two which helped propel them to the victory.

Game One
Belhaven (30-11, 19-6 GCAC) fell behind early to Spring Hill in game one on a solo home run off the bat of Bobby Voss in the bottom of the first. The Blazers responded quickly on a two run homer by Derek Tortorich over the wall in left field in the second inning. Brandon Benton singled to lead off the frame and scored on the first of two homers by Tortorich in the game. The Badgers recaptured the advantage in the in bottom of the second with three runs and held a 4-2 edge going into the third.

Timmy Foster became the first base runner in the third inning for the Blazers as he dropped a double down the left field line. John Michael Williamson grounded out to third base for the second out and Badger starting pitcher Joe Baumgartner was a strike away from getting out of the inning. However, Benton hit a single to shallow center field plating Foster from second in what would prove to be the biggest hit of the game. Benton's hit started a two out seven run rally giving Belhaven a 9-4 lead. Shawn Diehl picked up a RBI on a bases loaded walk, Drew Dillard drove in two runs on a single to right, and Lake Eiland cleared the bases on a three run double down the left field line to cap the inning.

Spring Hill (24-18, 13-13 GCAC) made it close again at 9-7 with three more runs in the third, but Belhaven grabbed the momentum back by posting a two run fourth inning. Tortorich hit his fourth homer of the year and second of the game to lead it off and Dean crossed the plate later in the inning on a throwing error by Voss increasing the lead to 11-7. The Badgers tacked on another run in the fifth frame, but the Blazers added three more runs in both the sixth and seventh innings to pull away for the victory. Dean double home Mark Gray and then scored on a wild pitch in the sixth. The other run in the inning came in on a sacrifice fly by Eiland that chased home Diehl who had walked to get on base.

In the seventh, Dean picked up another RBI on a base hit to left center and Dillard collected RBI's three and four by singling to left. Golden Grasse, who had come into pitch in the fifth, set the Badgers down in order in the seventh to notch his second save of the season and secure the 17-8 win.

Dillard and Eiland led the offense with four RBI's in game one followed by Tortorich with three runs batted in. Dean went 4 for 4 at the plate with two RBI's and Benton collected three hits in five trips to the plate with one run batted in. Tortorich and Dillard both had a pair of hits in game one.

Paul Faulkenberry got the win tossing the first four innings allowing eight runs on 11 hits with one strikeout. Grasse pitched the final three innings for the save with no hits or runs allowed while striking out three Spring Hill batters.

Joe Baumgartner suffered the loss pitching 2.2 innings allowing nine earned runs on seven hits. He walked five batters which were key in setting up the seven run third inning. Voss along with Kendell Carvin had 2 RBI's to lead the Badgers on offense. Carvin and Ryan Cummings each had a pair of hits.

Game Two
Spring Hill owned game two of the doubleheader and took control early scoring all 12 of their runs in the first three innings of the contest. Cummings got the Badgers on the board with an RBI single in the first off Riley Galloway to make it 1-0. Spring Hill came up with four more runs in the second on run scoring hits by Harrison, Holstein, and Cummings extending the advantage to 5-0.

The Badgers left no doubt about what the outcome of the game would be scoring seven unearned runs in the bottom of the third. The Belhaven defense committed three errors in the inning and went through four pitchers before Andy Kuehn could record the final out. Joe Carter got the start for Spring Hill and kept Belhaven at bay en route to the 12-0 win.

Galloway pitched two innings and suffered the loss allowing seven runs on seven hits with two walks and one strikeout dropping his record to 1-4. One bright spot was Kuehn who pitched 2.2 innings and did not allow a run while giving up just two hits. Gilford, Eiland, Foster, and Dean had the only Blazer hits in game two.

Carter fired all seven innings for Spring Hill allowing only four hits with three walks and three strikeouts leading to his fourth win of the season. Holstein and Cummings both had 3 RBI's while Voss, McCall, Nelson, Harrison, and Fennell each tallied one run batted in.

Belhaven will return to action at Smith-Wills Stadium on Thursday night as they host Millsaps College in a Maloney Series game beginning at 6:00 PM. All the play-by-play action can be heard via Stretch Internet through Belhaven athletics website starting with the pregame show at 5:45 PM.