Box Score
Jackson, MS-The Belhaven baseball team pulled out a 7-4 victory over Freed-Hardeman University Tuesday afternoon at Smith-Wills and stay perfect to begin the 2011 season. The Blazers had solid pitching for the third straight game holding the Lions to just three hits on the afternoon.

Belhaven (3-0) struggled on defense in the first inning which helped stake Freed-Hardeman to an early 2-0 lead after a half inning of play. Blazer starting pitcher Alan McHenry walked the leadoff man Tyler Wilson and then with one out gave up a single to Robert Prieto putting runners on the corners. The Lions scored both of their runs on errors with the first coming on an errant throw by McHenry on a failed pick-off attempt allowing Wilson to score from third. The second came on shortstop Matt Discon's throwing error which sent home Prieto.

Belhaven answered back with a run in the bottom of the first on a sacrifice fly by Drew Dillard that chased home Discon who was hit by a pitch to open the frame. However, the Blazers missed an opportunity to have a big inning by loading the bases with nobody out and only cashing in on the one score. Pitcher Charlie Overturf was able to wiggle off the hook thanks to a strikeout of Anthony Doss, the fly ball by Dillard and a ground out from Tyler Wrinkle to close the inning.

The Blazers regrouped and took the lead for good in third with a pair of runs off reliever Andy Southard. Lake Eiland brought home Jimmy Gilford on a one out single up the middle and then Wrinkle shot a sacrifice fly to left plating Eiland for the go ahead run. Prieto committed a key error in the inning that gave Belhaven an extra out allowing the second run of the frame to score.

Belhaven pulled away in the fourth inning with four runs to take a 7-2 edge. Catcher Derek Tortorich led off with a single and courtesy runner Justin Hill went home on Discon's second triple of the season. Doss then picked up an RBI on a single to center and Dillard capped things off with a two run double deep to left field. At that point, McHenry had settled in on the mound and the Lions were not able to get anything going at the plate in his final four innings of work. Freed-Hardeman did pickup a couple of runs against relief pitcher Mark Husband in the seventh, but that was it for the rest of the afternoon. Kiel Higginbotham fired a scoreless eighth and Josh Clarke blanked Freed-Hardeman in the ninth to preserve the victory.

McHenry (1-0) picked up his first win of the season as he went five innings allowing only two unearned runs on two hits. McHenry struck out five and walked two en route to the win. Clarke earned his first save of the season by not surrendering a run or a hit in the ninth inning. At the plate, Dillard led the way with a pair of hits including a double and three runs batted in. Discon also had two hits, two runs scored and an RBI. Eiland, Wrinkle, and Doss all had one hit and an RBI while Paul Moreno collected a triple in one at bat. As a team, the Blazers added two more three baggers in the contest and have six in the first three games this season.

Freed-Hardeman (0-1) was led at the dish by Prieto who went 1 for 2 and had the only RBI of the game for the Lions. Evan Mansell along with Kyle Dearing were the only other players to tally a hit in the game. Southard (0-1) took the loss on the mound for Freed-Hardeman as he was charged with two runs in a third of an inning. Overturf gave up one run in two innings and Jonathan Soto was tagged with four runs in 1.1 innings pitched.

Belhaven will be back in action on Wednesday afternoon at Smith-Wills Stadium as they play host to Millsaps College in a Maloney Series contest starting at 3:00 PM. Fans can catch all the play-by-play action through live audio and stats via Stretch Internet by clicking here.