Box Score
Jackson, MS-The Belhaven baseball team topped the University of Mobile 14-9 on Friday afternoon at Smith-Wills Stadium in the loser's bracket of the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Tournament. The Blazers, ranked 10th in the latest NAIA Top 25 Poll, built a 9-0 lead only to see the Rams rally with nine unanswered runs to tie it up through five innings of play. However, Belhaven regrouped for five straight runs over the final four innings to regain control of the game and stay alive in the tournament.

Belhaven (40-14) took a 3-0 advantage in the third on an RBI double by Shawn Diehl followed by a Jimmy Gilford two run homer to center field. It was Gilford's seventh long ball of the season tying him with Timmy Foster and Lake Eiland for the second most home runs on the team. The Blazers went on to post six runs in the fourth thanks to a two run triple by Diehl who then came in to score on a wild pitch. Earlier in the inning, Paul Moreno walked and scored on a misplayed ball in the outfield off a single by Kyle Feazell. The other three runs in the frame were driven in on RBI base hits by Jordan Brewer and Foster.

Trailing 9-0 going into the bottom of the fourth, Mobile (20-34) put together a major rally starting with three runs in the fourth and six more in the fifth. Cody Sanderson came up with a key two run single in the fourth and Hunter Norris along with Cody Barber drove in two runs each which helped the Rams knot the score at 9-9 in the fifth inning.

Belhaven countered to regain the lead at 11-9 scoring two times in sixth on an RBI double by Gilford and an infield single by Foster that chased home Gilford from third base. Drew Dillard connected on his sixth home run of the season in the seventh inning and an RBI double by Foster and run scoring triple off the bat of Feazell gave the Blazers three more insurance runs as they held on for the 14-9 win.

Brandt Hinton got the start, but struggled through 4.1 innings allowing eight runs on ten hits with one walk and one strikeout. Paul Faulkenberry got the win in relief as he improves to 7-2 on the season. Faulkenberry pitched 3.2 innings with one run surrendered on four hits with two walks and five strikeouts. Wade Broyles came in to work a scoreless ninth as he record three more strikeouts and now has a team high 64 in 33.1 innings pitched.

Foster and Diehl each had three hits and three runs batted in to lead the Belhaven offensive attack at the plate. Gilford collected two hits and three RBI's while Dillard had three hits and one run batted in. Feazell and Brewer had a pair of hits and an RBI each. As a team, Belhaven pounded out 17 hits with 11 going for extra bases. Mobile had 16 hits in the game as both teams combined for 33 total hits in the contest.

Jeff Lyons took the loss in relief for Mobile with four runs allowed on six hits in 2.2 innings on the mound. Jarrin Brister started and gave up seven runs and John Ladnier pitch 3.1 innings with three runs surrendered. Sanderson went 3 for 4 at the plate with 2 RBI's while Barber and Norris each had two hits and two runs batted in apiece.

Belhaven will take the field again on Saturday against LSU-Shreveport in a GCAC Tournament elimination game at Smith-Wills Stadium. The Pilots lost to William Carey Friday 9-7 in 10 innings in their second round contest. With the loss, Mobile's season comes to a close. All the play-by-play action of the Belhaven and LSUS game can be heard via Stretch Internet through the Belhaven Athletics website starting with the pregame show at 10:45 AM. The GCAC Tournament website with the bracket, game recaps, box scores, and live stats on all the games can be viewed by clicking here.