Box Score
Columbus, GA-The Belhaven baseball team notched a 13-3 win over Shorter University on Saturday night in the second round of the Southern States Athletic Conference Tournament at Golden Park in Columbus, GA. The Blazers, ranked 22nd in the latest NAIA Top 25 Poll, pounded out 15 hits pulled away for the win thanks in large part to a three run third inning, a three run fourth inning, and a five run fifth inning.

Belhaven (41-15) fell behind after a half inning when Shorter (39-17) plated a run to take the early lead. Blazer starting pitcher Brett Blaise struggled with his command early walking three hitters while allowing a single to Blake McCullers. However, Blaise did an outstanding job of bearing down by limiting the damage to just the one run. With one out and the bases loaded, Blaise struck out Jordan Hollis on a 3-2 pitch and then got Kurtis Robinson to groundout to end the inning. Those two outs proved to be the turning point in the game.

The Belhaven offense went to work in the bottom of the first and evened the score when Derek Tortorich doubled off the wall in left center driving in Anthony Doss to make it 1-1. The Blazers then added three runs in the third on an RBI single by Doss, a sacrifice fly by Tortorich, and Matt Discon capped the inning with an infield RBI single. Belhaven posted three more runs in the fourth thanks to a bases loaded walk to Tortorich and a two run double off the bat of Ryan Saunders.

Belhaven then put the game away in the fifth inning scoring five times to make it a 12-1 contest. Tyler Wrinkle had a pinch hit RBI double, which was his 18th two bagger of the year, to get the scoring started. Lee Verweel came in from the Shorter bullpen to replace starter Brick Carter and uncorked a wild pitch that allowed Moreno to score. Doss doubled to chase home another run and Alex Riser along with Discon drew bases loaded walks that accounted for runs four and five of the inning.

The Hawks picked up runs in the eighth and ninth innings and Belhaven tacked on one final run in the bottom of the eighth. Jordan Scott pinch hit and was hit by a pitch to open the eighth. Drew Dillard reached on a fielder's choice and eventually made it to third base where he scored on an RBI ground out by Lake Eiland.

Gilford had a big night at the dish for the Blazers collecting three hits in five at bats including his 18th double of the year. Doss went 2 for 4 with two RBI's and a double while Discon posted the same totals as Doss. Paul Moreno had two hits and made a highlight reel catch in left field for one of his two putouts in the game. Tortorich led the team in RBI's with three and was 1 for 2 at the plate with a double. Wrinkle, Riser, and Eiland all had a hit and a run batted in and Tom Wertz picked up a pinch hit single on the night as well. As a team, Belhaven ripped six doubles and now have 117 for the season.

Blaise ended up working seven innings on the mound and surrendered only one run on two hits. Blaise struck out nine batters and walked just one after the first inning in what was one of his best performances of the season. The win improves his record to 8-1 in 2011.

Clint Harkins had a 2 for 4 night to lead the Shorter offense while Willie Lewis and Matthew Johnson had one hit and an RBI. Carter (6-3) was tagged with the loss giving up 10 runs on 11 hits in four plus innings of work. Verweel was responsible for two runs in 0.2 innings and Adam Thurman tossed one inning and gave up the final score of the night.

Belhaven will be back in action on Monday night at 6:00 PM when they meet up with William Carey University in round three of the SSAC Tournament.  Fans can follow all the play-by-play action through live audio courtesy of Stretch Internet by clicking here.