Box Score
JACKSON, Miss.-The Belhaven baseball team lost 9-7 in 10 innings Friday night at Smith-Wills Stadium in a Southern States Athletic Conference contest to 13th ranked Auburn University-Montgomery. The Blazers, ranked 15th in the Preseason NAIA Top 25 Poll, rallied from a 7-2 deficit to tie the game in the eighth inning only to see the Warhawks take the win with two in the 10th. Belhaven committed three errors leading to five of the nine runs being unearned.

Auburn-Montgomery cracked the scoreboard with a run in the first when Hunter Cross drove home Rusty Todd on a fielder's choice. Todd walked to open the inning and it came back to haunt Belhaven starting pitcher Geoffrey Thomas. The Blazers got two runs back for Thomas in the bottom of the first thanks to an RBI single from first baseman Jaime Bruno and an error by shortstop Chezz McCann.

Neither team scored in the second, but the Warhawks put together a four run frame in the third to pull back in front 5-2. Auburn-Montgomery had just one hit and the Blazers had two errors, one by shortstop Hamilton Harper and second baseman Ryne Cook. Three of the runs crossed the plate on errors and one on a wild pitch. The Warkhawks then went up 7-2 with two more runs in the fourth. Jorden Johnson scored on a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly by Shane Turner sent home first baseman Logan Remson.

Belhaven (15-10, 4-6 SSAC) began to cut away at the deficit in the fifth inning scoring twice on a two run single by Cook that plated Harper and courtesy runner Justin Hill. The Blazers added another in the seventh on a squeeze bunt from Harper that chased in Hill from third. Belhaven eventually tied the game in the eighth on an RBI single from catcher Kyle Wheeler and back to back wild pitches charged to Michael Carden permitted center fielder Tyler Wrinkle to come home making it a brand new game at 7-7.

Unfortunately, the error bug hit again in the 10th as Auburn-Montgomery capitalized on a fielding error by Harper giving the Warhawks the extra out they needed. Relief pitcher Jon Patino struck out Wes Hughes to begin the inning and struck out Chezz McCann, but the ball was in the dirt and McCann reached first on a wild pitch. The error by Harper followed and with two outs Remson drove an RBI single to center followed by an infield RBI single by Cross. Belhaven loaded up the bases in the bottom of the 10th, but stranded the runners there as Carden closed out the game for the win.

Belhaven was led at the plate by Wheeler who went 4 for 5 with one run batted in. Cook also picked up four hits in five at bats with two runs batted in. Jason Hicks was 2 for 5 and had two stolen bases while Jamie Bruno was 2 for 6 with an RBI. Harper was 2 for 3 with an RBI followed by Wrinkle and Wertz with one hit each. As a team, Belhaven pounded out 16 hits with all of them being singles. They had more chances to score runs, but left 14 runners on base.

Patino suffered his first loss of the season in relief, allowing two unearned runs on two hits in two innings to drop to 4-1. Thomas pitched the first four innings, surrendering seven runs on seven hits with only four of the runs earned. Thomas walked four and struck out four.

Auburn-Montgomery (17-9, 8-2 SSAC) had four hits from Logan Remson and the game winning RBI on the two out single in the 10th. Hunter Cross had one hit and two runs batted in. Carden improved to 1-0 as he earned the win in relief pitching 2.2 innings without giving up a run on three hits.

Belhaven will wrap up the three game series on Saturday with a doubleheader beginning at 1:00 PM.