Box Score Game 1    Box Score Game 2
FRANKLIN SPRINGS, Ga. – The Belhaven baseball team bounced back from a 6-5 loss on Friday night to take the final two games of a three game Southern States Athletic Conference series at Emmanuel College Saturday afternoon. The Blazers won game one 1-0 on the strength of another masterful performance by pitcher Chris Good. In game two, Belhaven had some ninth inning heroics rallying from a 10-6 deficit with six runs for a 12-10 victory.
 
Game One
Belhaven (34-17, 17-10 SSAC) was looking for a spark on Saturday and they got it from Good. Good kept an Emmanuel (26-20, 9-15 SSAC) offense that had slugged two home runs and scored six runs the night before at bay. He limited them to one hit and very few scoring chances.
 
Meanwhile, the Blazers let some scoring chances go by the boards themselves, leaving runners on third base in the first and fourth innings after putting them there with less than two outs. Belhaven had runners on second and third in the fourth with nobody out, but Lions starting pitcher Joshua Wright wiggled off the hook leaving the game scoreless.
 
Belhaven finally broke through in the sixth for the only run of the contest. Second baseman Ryne Cook doubled to right center and moved to third in a single from third baseman Jason Hicks. With one out in the inning, first baseman Bud Britt put Josh Buczek on the warning track in center field for a sacrifice fly to plate Cook from third.
 
Good did the rest by recording the final six outs to claim the 1-0 win.
 
Good improved to 12-3 on the season and continues to lead the NAIA in victories on the bump. Good gave up just the one hit, a single to left fielder Desmond Harp in the sixth, while walking four and striking out six. It was also his eighth complete game and fourth shutout of the 2013 season.
 
Cook collected two of Belhaven's five hits and scored the Blazers run. Left fielder Dominick Francia, right fielder Emilio DeSilva, and Hicks had the other hits for the Blazers. Britt was 0 for 2, but drove in the game winning run on the sacrifice fly.
 
Belhaven handed Wright his first loss of the season as he falls to 6-1. Wright gave up the one run on five hits with six strikeouts in seven innings on the mound.
 
Game Two
The Blazers had the cards stacked against them early in game two with Emmanuel breaking out to a 5-1 lead after the first inning. Francia reached on an error by second baseman Elliot Beard to start the game and scored on a sac fly to center by Britt for a 1-0 Belhaven lead. Francia had moved to third on a double by Cook.
 
The lead was short lived when the Lions scored five runs on four hits against starting pitcher Robert Marzoni. DH Sam Buczek singled to right followed by a sacrifice fly from first baseman Michael Granda to make it a 2-1 game. Then the big shot in the inning came off the bat of third baseman Tori Patterson who launched his second three run homer of the series, increasing the Emmanuel lead to 5-1.
 
Belhaven battled back in the second by stringing together four singles after two men were out. Shortstop Josiah Richard started the rally with a single to left followed by a base hit from Francia to center field. Cook plated the first run of the inning on a single to center and Hicks slammed an RBI base hit to right center to cut the deficit in half.
 
The Blazers tacked on their fourth run in the fifth when Britt doubled deep to right center and crossed the plate on catcher Kyle Wheeler's single to center field. Wheeler's run trimmed Emmanuel's edge down to 5-4.
 
Unfortunately, Emmanuel answered in the home half of the fifth on a sac fly by Patterson and then chalked up four runs in the sixth to lead 10-4. Beard led off the sixth with a home run, Sam Buczek picked up an RBI single, Harp stole home, and shortstop Billy Hutchins brought home Buczek on a sacrifice fly.
 
Despite the six run shortfall, Belhaven didn't give up by scoring single runs in the seventh and eighth innings. Wheeler launched his third home run of the season with two outs in the seventh, a solo shot over the wall in left field. In the eighth, DeSilva scored on a double play ball off the bat of Daniel Gilbert.
 
The Blazer bullpen kept the Emmanuel bats in check setting up the dramatic ninth inning comeback. Belhaven loaded the bases with one out and pinch hitter Caleb Baucum walked to bring in the first run to open the flood gates. Closer Williams Mizrahi, who had picked up the save on Friday night, then hit DeSilva on a 1-2 pitch that brought in the second run to make it a 10-8 game.
 
DH Joshua Bouldin kept the heat on with an RBI single to right that dropped in front of Ahmmad Williams who had trouble locating the ball in the sun. With the bases still loaded and needing a run to tie and two runs to take the lead, Gilbert snuck the game winning hit inside the bag a first and down the right field line chasing home DeSilva and Baucum for an 11-10 lead. Pinch hitter Jonathan Thompson capped the inning with an RBI double to left plating the 12^th run of the afternoon.
 
Reliever Josh Rogers, who had come in from the bullpen to pitch the seventh held off Emmanuel in the ninth to compete the comeback victory. In the process, Rogers (5-2) earned his fifth win of the season with three shutout frames on the hill. Rogers gave up one hit, walked two, and struck out three.
 
Belhaven was led at the dish by Wheeler who went 3 for 5 with a home run and two runs batted in. Cook and Hicks had two hits and an RBI each while Francia picked up two singles and two runs scored. Francia also tallied his 40^th stolen base of the season and moves into a tie for second for most steals in a single season in school history. Teammate Reagan Rutledge has a team high 41 steals in 2013.
 
Gilbert's single in the ninth notched two RBI on the afternoon followed by DeSilva and Bouldin with one hit and one RBI apiece.
 
Mizrahin (0-3) pitched 0.2 innings for Emmanuel in relief and suffered the loss, allowing four runs on three hits with a walk and hit batsman.
 
Patterson had a game high four runs batted in with three crossing the plate on his first inning home run. Sam Buczek had three hits and two RBI followed by Beard and Hutchins with a hit and RBI each. The Lions were out-hit by Belhaven 15-10 on the afternoon with each team committing two errors.
 
Belhaven will be back in action on Tuesday night when the team travels to Mississippi College for a Maloney Series matchup starting at 6:00 PM. The Blazers are 2-0 against the Choctaws this season.