Box Score
JACKSON, Miss.- The Belhaven baseball team opened the 2013 Maloney Series with a 9-6 win over Millsaps College Wednesday night at Smith-Wills Stadium. The Blazers snapped a three game losing streak against the Majors, who won the Maloney Series title in 2012.

Belhaven (7-4) took the lead in the first inning and for the first time in three games did not have to play catch up. Right fielder Reagan Rutledge greeted pitcher Colin Peak with a base hit and then with one out catcher Kyle Wheeler drew the games first walk. Rutledge and courtesy runner Josiah Richard would eventually score in the inning. Third baseman Bud Britt drove in Rutledge on a ground ball to shortstop and then Richard crossed the plate on a wild pitch. The pitching staffs from each team had trouble finding the strike zone most of the night as evidenced by a combined 16 walks and five hit batters over the course of nine innings.

Millsaps (1-2) plated its first run in the third inning without the aid of a hit. Relief pitcher David Hill walked the first two batters in the inning leading to an RBI groundout by third baseman Stephen Gates. Gates chased home right fielder William Chenoweth who had drawn one of the two free passes.

The Blazers got the run back in the bottom of the third on an RBI fielder's choice by shortstop Daniel Gilbert. Belhaven had an opportunity for more runs in the inning, loading the bases twice before a double play off the bat of Joshua Bouldin ended the attack.

Leading 3-1 heading into the fourth, the Blazers doubled their run total with three runs in the home half of the frame. Rutledge doubled with one out and then stole third base setting up an RBI single by third baseman Jason Hicks. Rutledge went on to steal four bases and as a team Belhaven swiped 11 bags against the Majors pitchers and catchers. Later in the inning, Gilbert added two more runs batted in on a two out single to center to make it a 6-1 game.

Millsaps got a run back in the top of the fifth against Jared Miller and the Blazers when center fielder Isaac Glen walked with the bases loaded. However, Belhaven countered with two runs in the home half of the fifth to take what appeared to be a commanding 8-2 lead. Hicks notched his second and third RBI's with a single up the middle, plating Bouldin who had doubled and Rutledge who had reached on a fielder's choice.

The Majors mounted a comeback in the seventh scoring four times on four hits against Austin McCann. First baseman Keith Shumaker plated a run on a sacrifice fly, Glenn singled to first base driving in the second run, and left fielder Jerrod Myers doubled in another run. On the Myers hit to center, the ball was misplayed by Rutledge allowing Myers to go to third and Adam Bice was able to score to make it an 8-6 game.

Fortunately, the rally for Millsaps would end at four runs in the seventh and six for the night. Belhaven tacked on an insurance run in the seventh on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Wheeler. Robert Marzoni came into pitch in the eighth and logged the final two frames preserving the 9-6 win.

Belhaven designated Wednesday's contest as a staff day before the game and under those rules the win was credited to starter Chris Good (3-1), who pitched one inning. Marzoni tossed the most innings on Wednesday with two, resulting in his third save of the season.

Gilbert and Hicks ended the night with two hits and 3 RBI's each while Rutledge collected two hits and four runs scored to go along with his four stolen bases. Rutledge, Gilbert and Bouldin all had doubles as part of their hit totals.

Peak was charged with the loss for Millsaps allowing two runs on one hit in 1.1 innings on the mound. Glenn paced the Majors at the plate with one hit, 2 RBI's, and one run scored. Gates added two hits and one run batted in.

Belhaven will hit the road for the first time on Friday when the team heads to Faulkner University (AL) for its Southern States Athletic Conference opener. The first pitch is scheduled for 3:00 PM.