NEW ORLEANS, La. - The Belhaven baseball team picked up a pair of Southern States Athletic Conference victories on Saturday, sweeping Loyola University in a road doubleheader. The Blazers took the opener 1-0 before winning the nightcap by a tally of 7-2.
"It was nice to come in and pick up a couple of wins today against a team that beat us yesterday," Head Coach
Hill Denson said. "Every win in this conference matters, and we felt like we couldn't afford to lose either game today. Our guys did their jobs."
Chase Davidson received his first start of the season, surrendering three outs and striking out four over five innings. When the Blazers broke a scoreless tie in the top of the sixth, Davidson became eligible for the first win of his Belhaven career.
Jim Tom Copeland pitched a flawless sixth inning, and
Zach Osha overcame a walk and a hit batsman to record his first save. The shutout marked the second time in five days that the Blazers blanked their opponent, with the latter being the first in conference play.
The Green and Gold mustered just three hits, but four Wolfpack errors helped the Blazers snap a four-game conference losing streak. Left hander Kevin Lindsey pitched all seven innings for Loyola, striking out four and leaving the walk column blank along the way.
The nightcap proved to be different offensively for Belhaven, as the team combined nine hits with five walks to score seven times.
Hunter Sutton was the only Blazer to drive in multiple runs, and
Adam Kowalczyk hit his third home run of the year in the sixth inning.
Belhaven starting pitcher
Will Cockrell lasted just 3.1 innings on the hill before turning things over to the bullpen.
Tanner Moulder entered the game in the fourth inning and cleaned up a bases loaded, one-out jam before qualifying for his second win of the year.
Chris Good and
Michael Wurster combined to toss the game's final three innings, and the Blazers wrapped up their Saturday without having trailed a single time.
Dylan Gregoire took the loss for Loyola, allowing two runs over four innings. Connor Thurman pitched the next four and allowed four more runs before Stewart Campbell surrendered a run in the final inning. Each Wolfpack pitcher of the series finale gave up at least a run, and the Blazers were able to improve to 13-8 on the year.
Belhaven returns home on Tuesday, when they will host Calumet College of St. Joseph (Indiana) at Smith-Wills Stadium. First pitch is slated for 4:00 pm.
