Box Score
Jackson, MS-Belhaven's 2010 Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament run came to a close on Saturday afternoon in a 6-3 loss to LSU-Shreveport at Smith-Wills Stadium. The Blazers, ranked 10th in the latest NAIA Top 25 Poll, had some opportunities to score more runs, but couldn't dial up a big hit in key situations. Belhaven ended up leaving 10 runners on base during the course of the contest.

LSU-Shreveport (45-11) jumped on the Blazers early with a run in the top of the first and followed that up with two more scores in the top of the second inning. Chase Wentz picked up an RBI single in the first and in the second Brandon Bravata doubled home Stephen Hobbins and Matt Bagley.

Belhaven (40-15) came back to cut the deficit to 3-2 in the bottom of the fourth as three of the first four batters reached base against Pilot starter John James. Shawn Diehl, Kyle Feazell, and Paul Moreno collected singles to load the bases with one out. Drew Dillard was hit by a pitch driving in a run and then Jordan Brewer picked up an RBI on a fielder's choice. James hit six batters in the game, but they were offset by his eight strikeouts.

LSUS rallied for single runs in the fifth, sixth, and ninth innings and took a 6-2 edge heading into the bottom of the ninth. Wentz tallied an RBI on a sacrifice fly in the fifth, Hobbins brought in a run on a fielder's choice in the sixth inning, and Shawn Moy chased home the Pilots final run of the night on a single to right field in the ninth. Belhaven put two runners on in the bottom of the ninth with only one out, but managed to only plate one run on an RBI ground out to shortstop by Jimmy Gilford. James tossed a complete game and got Timmy Foster on a fly out to right field to end the game and give LSUS the 6-3 victory.

Chris Bennett suffered the loss for Belhaven as he went 6.2 innings allowing five runs on six hits with seven walks and eight strikeouts. The loss drops his record to 5-4 on the season. Golden Grasse pitched a scoreless inning and Wade Broyles was charged with the Pilots final run in the ninth inning. Diehl led the Belhaven offense with two hits and Brewer finished the game with one hit and an RBI. The other Blazer RBI's were credited to Dillard and Gilford.

James went the distance for LSUS giving up three runs on five hits with eight strikeouts to go to 11-1 on the season. It was his ninth complete game of the 2010 campaign. Kevin Smith had a pair of hits for the Pilots while Wentz and Bravata each had a hit and 2 RBI's. LSU-Shreveport went on to beat William Carey 7-1 Saturday night to advance to the GCAC Tournament Championship game against Loyola University on Monday afternoon at 4:00 PM at Smith-Wills Stadium.

Belhaven will now await word on a potential at large bid to the NAIA National Tournament Opening round which will be played May18th through the 21st. The tournament field is expected to be announced next week following the release of the season's final Top 25 Poll on Tuesday. Belhaven is also one of 11 finalists to host one of the the nine opening round sites. The host sites will also be announced when the teams making the tournament are released. Stay up to date on all the latest baseball news and information on the Belhaven Athletics website blazers.belhaven.edu.