Box Score Game 1    Box Score Game 2
Jackson, MS-The Belhaven baseball team split a Gulf Coast Athletic Conference doubleheader with William Carey University at Smith-Wills Stadium on Friday night at Smith-Wills Stadium. The Blazers held on for a 9-8 win in game one, but a late rally by Belhaven in the second game came up short in a 6-5 loss to the Crusaders. The Blazers, ranked 10th in the latest NAIA Top 25 Poll, maintain a half game lead in the GCAC over LSU-Shreveport. The Pilots defeated Tougaloo 15-3 on Friday, but the final two games of their series with the Bulldogs were rained out.

Game One
Belhaven (35-13, 23-7 GCAC) took the early advantage in game one scoring twice in the bottom of the first inning. Drew Dillard reached on an error by second baseman Jordan Prout and Jimmy Gilford followed with his fourth home run of the season to make it a 2-0 game. William Carey (26-25, 19-11 GCAC) notched a run in the second inning on an RBI single by Sean Hodges, but in the bottom of the third Belhaven took a commanding six run lead with five runs.

Shawn Diehl walked and scored on a wild pitch, Lake Eiland collected an RBI double, Timmy Foster singled in a run, Paul Moreno drove in another run with a single, and Brandon Benton scored the final run of the inning on a wild pitch to make it 7-1 Belhaven. William Carey fought back for a run in the fourth and tied up the game with five runs in the fifth off pitcher Brandt Hinton. Four of the five runs in the inning were unearned due to an error by Diehl.

With the score deadlocked at 7-7 in the bottom of five with two outs, Dillard came up with a clutch two run double to center field that chased home Diehl and Moreno for what would prove to be the winning runs. The Crusaders tried to mount a comeback in the top of the seventh against Belhaven closer Wade Broyles by scoring once and putting the tying run at third base with one out. However, Broyles struck out Josh Dannelley and Will Dannelley to end the game and secure the 9-8 win.

Hinton got the win for the Blazers by tossing the first six innings with seven runs on nine hits allowed. Only three of the seven runs ended up being earned. The win improves Hinton's record to a perfect 10-0 this season. Broyles tallied his 10th save of the year allowing one run on two hits with two strikeouts in the seventh inning. Dillard and Gilford led the Belhaven offense with 2 RBI's each while Gilford and Moreno racked up three hits apiece.

Logan Shaver (0-2) suffered the loss for William Carey pitching two innings in relief with two runs on three hits given up. W. Dannelley and Hodges both had two runs batted in to pace the Crusader offense.

Game Two
William Carey grabbed the quick lead in the top of the first with two runs off Belhaven starting pitcher Paul Faulkenberry. Rogers executed a squeeze bunt to get the Crusaders on the board and J. Dannelley capped the inning with a base hit to right. The Blazers responded with two runs in their half of the first as Dillard reached on an error and crossed the plate on a Gilford triple to right center. Eiland brought in the second run on an RBI ground out to second base which tied game at 2-2. William Carey plated the next four runs with a pair of scores in both the third and fifth innings.

The Crusaders maintained a 6-2 edge until the bottom of the eighth when Belhaven scored twice to get back in the game. The Blazers loaded the bases with no one out and catcher Derek Tortorich drew a walk to bring in the first run. Scotty Reese then came in to pitch for Jim Roseberry who made 149 pitches in the game. Reese did the job as he got Craig Dean to ground into a fielder's choice for the first out. Brandon Benton came in on the play, but Reese would get two more fielders choices to get out of the inning and keep it a 6-4 contest.

Belhaven made one final push with a run in the bottom of the ninth as Eiland walked and flew home on Foster's double to left center. However, the Crusaders brought in Kody James who proceeded to strikeout Benton, induce a fly ball by Moreno, and then ended the game on a Tortorich ground ball to second with the tying run stranded at third base. The Blazers left a total of 11 men on base in game two while the Crusaders left 13 men stranded on the base paths.

Faulkenberry (6-2) was charged with the loss as he gave up all six William Carey runs on seven hits with five walks and two strikeouts. Riley Galloway did a nice job in relief pitching five scoreless innings to keep Belhaven in the game. Galloway allowed just four hits and struck out five Carey hitters. Foster had three of Belhaven's six hits in game two with one RBI on the double in the ninth. Foster now has 23 doubles and 57 RBI's this season. Gilford, Tortorich, Eiland, and Dean had the other runs batted in for Belhaven.

Roseberry (7-3) earned the win for William Carey with seven innings pitched allowing four runs on five hits. Roseberry walked eight, but struck out 10 en route to his seventh win of the season. James notched the save which was his first in 2010. J. Dannelley had 2 RBI's for the Crusaders as well as three hits to pace the offense.

Belhaven will wrap up their three game Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Series with William Carey at Smith-Wills Stadium on Saturday afternoon. The first pitch of game three in the series is slated for 1:00 PM and all the live play-by-play action can be heard via Stretch internet through the Belhaven Athletics website beginning with the pregame show at 12:45 PM. Saturday's contest will also be Senior Day with a presentation of this year's seniors before Saturday's first pitch.