Box Score Game 1    Box Score Game 2
JACKSON, Miss. – The Belhaven baseball team split a non-conference doubleheader against 14^th ranked Missouri Baptist University Saturday afternoon at Smith-Wills Stadium. The Blazers lost game one 8-1 and then rallied from a 4-0 deficit in game two take an 8-7 win, salvaging the final game of the three game series.
 
Game One
Missouri Baptist (2-1) dominated game one scoring seven times in the second inning to take a commanding lead. The Spartans plated all seven runs off Belhaven started Chris Good who had yet to give up an earned run this season coming into the game. DH Joe Stropp got things going with a two run single up the middle to make it a 2-0 game and from there the flood gates opened. Shortstop Patrick Johnson, second baseman Pier Olivier-Dostaler, and left fielder Ryan Gunhouse all had run scoring hits. Right fielder Rick Pagan picked up an RBI with a bases loaded walk and first baseman Garrett Yost drove in a run with a sacrifice fly.
 
Belhaven (6-4) scored its only run in the third inning when third baseman Jason Hicks blasted his first home run of the season over the wall in left to lead off the third. Missouri Baptist tacked on an insurance run in the fourth on a run scoring double off the bat of Pagan to make it 8-1. Both teams put zeros in the run column the rest of the way.
 
Good took the loss for the Blazers dropping his record to 2-1 in 2013. Good pitched 1.2 innings and was charged with seven runs, five earned, on five hits with four walks and one strikeout. Jared Miller pitched well in relief allowing just one run while logging 5.1 innings.
 
Hicks had two of Belhaven's three hits in the game including the home run to lead the offense. Catcher Kyle Wheeler finished the game going 1 for 3 at the dish.
 
Ethan Gibbons tossed a seven inning complete game for Missouri Baptist and in the process earned his first win of the season. Gibbons allowed only one run on three hits with a walk and five strikeouts. Stropp powered the offense with two hits and two runs batted in.
 
Game Two
The Spartans appeared to be on their way to a series sweep when they erupted for four runs in the top of the fourth to take a 4-0 lead. Missouri Baptist started the inning with five straight hits off left hander Andrew Gunn who had made it through the first three innings unscathed. DH Joseph Taylor knocked in the first run on a double to right center, left fielder Ryan Gunhouse followed suit with a two bagger of his own and Stropp knocked Gunn out of the game with an RBI base hit back up the middle. Third baseman Justin Bowman added the fourth run on a sacrifice fly off relief pitcher Robert Marzoni.
 
Belhaven picked up its first run in the bottom of the fourth when Boman uncorked an errant throw to first base on a ground ball by Wheeler. Hicks, who had singled earlier in the inning scored on play to make it a 4-1 contest. Although the bad throw by Boman was the only official error, the Spartans made some other base running miscues that cost them potential runs. Two runners were thrown out at the plate and another was picked off during the course of the game.
 
The Blazers finally came to life at the plate in the sixth inning, scoring four times to grab their first lead of the series. Wheeler drove in the first run on a base hit to left center and then with two outs Belhaven had two key back to back hits. The first came off the bat of left fielder Josh Bouldin who tied the game with a two run single to right center. Catcher Zach Polzin then roped a double to left center chasing in Bouldin all the way from first base for a 5-4 Belhaven lead.
 
Missouri Baptist then countered in the seventh with three runs to jump back in front. Yost drew a bases loaded walk, Stropp had an RBI single, and centerfielder Kyle Turner had a sac fly to cap the scoring. Belhaven relief pitcher Austin McCann entered the game with one out and the bases loaded and did a nice job limiting the Spartans to just three runs. His efforts would eventually lead to his first win of the season on the mound.
 
Trailing 7-5 heading into the home half of the seventh, the bats responded with another clutch rally. Outfielder Reagan Rutledge and Hicks opened the inning with singles and after a foul out by DH Caleb Baucum, third baseman Bud Britt plated Rutledge on a base hit to left field cutting the deficit to 7-6. Wheeler then tied the game by sneaking the ball through the left side of the infield for a base hit to cash in Hicks.
 
McCann worked his way in and out of trouble in the eighth when Johnson reached base on a one out single, stole second and moved to third on a wild pitch with less than two outs. McCann recorded a big out by striking out Olivier-Dostaler and then induced a groundout back to the mound off the bat of Gunhouse.
 
McCann's efforts kept the game tied at 7-7 setting the stage for the game winning run in the eighth inning. Bouldin kicked off the eighth with a single to left and Polzin was hit by a pitch placing runners at first and second. Rutledge then came through with what would be the game winning RBI on a base hit to right field. McCann shutdown the Spartans in the ninth for the 8-7 win.
 
McCann tossed 2.2 innings and did not allowing a run while only giving up two hits. Hicks, Britt, and Wheeler all had three hits each to lead the offense. Wheeler and Bouldin both had two RBI's.
 
Chris Walker started for Missouri Baptist and was charged with five runs in 5.2 innings. Shane Turner was eventually tagged with the loss after giving up one run in one inning on the hill. Stropp had two hits and two runs batted in while Johnson picked up three hits in game two for the Spartans.
 
Belhaven will wrap up the 11 game home stand on Tuesday afternoon when the Blazers host Millsaps College beginning at 4:00 PM at Smith-Wills Stadium.