Box Score
New Orleans, LA-The Belhaven baseball team clinched the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference regular season championship on Saturday afternoon with a 13-9 win at Loyola University (NO). The Blazers, ranked 11th in the latest NAIA Top 25 Poll, finished a half game ahead of LSU-Shreveport at 26-7 in the league standings. Belhaven came into the weekend needing to win all three games to assure themselves of the championship. The Blazers won games one and two of the series on Friday night 12-6 and 7-2.

Loyola (15-28, 12-23 GCAC) took the early edge with a run in the bottom of the first inning on a David McChesney RBI ground out to second base. Belhaven (39-13, 26-7 GCAC) answered with a run in the top of the second on a two out run scoring single to left field by Craig Dean. Brandon Benton, who walked earlier in the inning, came in to score on the hit tying the game at 1-1. Blazer starting pitcher Paul Faulkenberry shutdown the Wolfpack in the bottom of the second and then the Belhaven offense came alive in the top of the third inning with four runs to take the lead for good.

Jimmy Gilford singled in the first run with a hit up the middle followed by an RBI double to right center by Timmy Foster. Foster, who finished the game with two doubles and now has 27 on the season, broke the Belhaven single season record for most doubles which was previously held by Thomas Royals who had 25 in 2007. The other two runs in the third crossed the plate on a sacrifice fly by Benton and an RBI single by Derek Tortorich.

Leading 5-1 after three innings, Belhaven added a run in the fourth on a Gilford home run extending the lead to 6-1. The Wolfpack got a run back in their half of the fourth on an RBI single by James Callahan. In the fifth, Belhaven engineered their second six run inning of the series to build a 12-2 lead. Tortorich opened the scoring in the frame with a RBI single to center field and then Dean followed with a run scoring double to left field. Shawn Diehl ended up driving Loyola relief pitcher Joey Pajares from the game with another RBI single to center. The Blazers opened the fifth with four straight hits and kept things rolling from there. Gilford picked up his third RBI of the game on a single that chased home Diehl and Eiland capped the inning with a two run homer to left center to make it 12-2 Belhaven. It was Eiland's second homer of the series and sixth of the year.

To Loyola's credited, they did not back down without a fight and rallied with seven unanswered runs to get right back in the game at 12-9. Tyler Duplantis scored on a wild pitch in the fifth, Ryan Scott tagged a three run home run in the sixth, and Brooks McMinn unloaded a three run home run of his own in the seventh inning. Kevin Fontenot did a good job of silencing the Blazer offense to keep the Wolfpack in striking distance. Belhaven ended up scoring their final run of the afternoon in the ninth as Dillard scored on a past ball extending the advantage to 13-9.

Wade Broyles, who entered the game to start the eighth, continued his dominance of the Loyola hitters by setting down all six men he faced while striking out four. In his two appearances in the series, Broyles struck out 10 and did not allow a hit, run, or a walk in four innings of work.

Ryan Kassab was the pitcher of record on the winning side for Belhaven as he tossed one inning in relief and was charged with one run on one hit running his record to 7-1 this season. Paul Faulkenberry pitched the first four innings allowing two runs on five hits with three walks and two strikeouts. Broyles earned his 11th save of the year by firing the last two frames.

Belhaven was led on offense by Gilford who went 3 for 6 at the dish with a home run and three runs batted in. Dean was 3 for 4 with two RBI's while Eiland and Tortorich each had a pair of hits and two RBI's. Foster had two hits and one run batted in and Benton along with Diehl accounted for the Blazers other runs batted in. As a team, Belhaven pounded out 16 hits and did not commit any errors in game three of the series.

Carl Labit started for Loyola and went the first two innings before giving way to Eric Walsh who allowed four runs on four hits in one inning of work. Walsh took the loss and is now 1-2 on the season. McMinn and Scott each had three runs batted in for Loyola to lead the Wolfpack offensive attack. McChesney and Callahan had the other RBI's for Loyola while Tyler Duplantis paced the team in hits with three.

Belhaven will host the GCAC Tournament at Smith-Wills Stadium beginning with the play-in game between Tougaloo and Loyola on Wednesday at 12:00 PM. The Blazers will face the winner of the play-in game on Thursday night at 6:00 PM. All the play-by-play action can be heard via Stretch Internet through the Belhaven Athletics website starting with the pregame show at 5:45 PM.