Box Score
JACKSON, Miss.-The Belhaven baseball team rolled past Tougaloo College 11-1 in eight innings Tuesday afternoon at Smith-Wills Stadium. The Blazers, ranked 15th in the Preseason NAIA Top 25 Poll, pounded out 13 hits en route to the victory.

Pitching was the name of the game in the early innings and Blazer starter Jonathan Thompson and Tougaloo's John Alford kept the offense's off balance through the first four innings. The Bulldogs struck first in the top of the fifth when Harold Sanford led off the inning with a double and eventually came around to score on a wild pitch to make it 1-0.

Belhaven answered in the bottom of the fifth, taking advantage of a Tougaloo error to know the contest at 1-1. With one out and runners on first and second, senior Tyler Wrinkle hit into a fielder's choice and second baseman Logan Smith through the ball low to first base trying to turn the double play. The ball got away from Sanford allowing senior Jaime Bruno to score.

The Blazers then took control of the game in the sixth inning scoring four times to grab the lead. Junior Ryne Cook delivered a two run double scoring junior Bud Britt and sophomore Josiah Richard. Senior Clay Bonds doubled in the third run of the inning and junior Joshua Bouldin picked up an RBI on a sac fly.

Belhaven tacked on a solo run in the seventh on an RBI single to center by Britt and exploded for five runs in the bottom of the eighth to put the game away. Freshman Hamilton Harper was hit by a pitch to begin the eighth and then senior Jamie Bruno crushed his first home run of the season over the right center field wall extending the advantage to 8-1. Wrinkle collected an RBI single, Britt added another RBI single, and Harper was hit by a pitch for the second time in the inning with the bases loaded to end the game with the winning run.

Belhaven (4-0) was led by Britt who had 4 hits in 5 at bats with a double, while driving in two runs on the afternoon. Doss was 3 for 5 with a double and two runs scored followed by Bruno who went one for three and had his first home run of the season on the two run shot to right center field. Cook also picked up two RBI's in the contest. Belhaven racked up six more extra base hits with five doubles and the home run. The Blazers were fourth in the nation in doubles coming into the game and now have 12 following Tuesday's contest.

Thompson earned the win on the hill in his first start of the season, logging seven innings allowing a run on two hits with one walk and four strikeouts. Nick Meekins pitched one scoreless inning in relief.

“I thought we played pretty good tonight, even though it took us a little while to settle in,” said Belhaven Assistant Head Coach Clay Smith. “They had a pitcher who did not throw really hard and that's kind of tough on some of our better hitters. Once everybody got a chance to see him through the order a couple of times, our players made their own adjustments and the offense began to click. Jonathan (Thompson) pitched pretty well today and kept us in the game. Ryne (Cook) had a big hit and we ended up adding some big base hits with runners on that put us in a really good situation to win the game.”

Tougaloo (0-1) was led by Sanford who doubled in three plate appearances and scored the only Bulldog run on the wild pitch. Rodney Mckay was credited with Tougaloo's only other hit in the game. Alford was tagged with the loss as he fired five innings allowing four runs on five hits. Bradley Simpson gave up 6 runs in 2.1 innings and Sanford surrendered a run on two hits in a third of an inning.

Belhaven will back in action on Friday when they open a three game series at LSU-Alexandria beginning at 4:00 PM. Fans can follow all the play-by-play action through live audio courtesy of Stretch Internet by clicking here.