JACKSON, Miss. - Belhaven junior Shane Brown goes the distance for the Blazers, as the Green and Gold defeat Illinois Wesleyan 7-2 Tuesday afternoon at Smith-Wills Stadium.

Mid-week starter Shane Brown (1-1) went all nine innings, allowing two unearned runs on six hits, while walking and striking out two each on 111 pitches to earn his first win as a member of the Blazers. The junior transfer recorded 13 outs on the ground and nine outs in the air. Brown, from the sixth inning on, set down 13 of the final 14 batters that he faced.

"It was going to be tough to pull him out at any point," said pitching coach Josh Clarke. "He is the ultimate competitor, and he has a bright future for us. We went a little further that we usually do with pitching during the midweek, but there was no way he was coming out of the ballgame unless we were in a save situation."

The Titans (4-3) loaded the bases in the first two innings, but failed to score after the Blazers (10-4) collected the inning-ending double play in both frames. The Blazers finished with three double plays on the day.

"Those first two innings could have really hurt us and put us in a hole early, but the double play is the pitcher's best friend and you cannot beat that," added Clarke.

The Blazers racked up 14 hits in the win, with Terrell Hodges, Adam Kowalczyk and Gabe Veith with three hits each.

Veith had three doubles on the day, and he came home for the first Belhaven run off a Daniel Ammirati double after notching his first double of the game.

In the third, the Blazers added a second run when Kowalczyk doubled to the left center field gap, scoring Hodges.

In the top of the fifth, Illinois Wesleyan scored twice with two outs in the inning to tie the game at two apiece. Belhaven answered with two runs in the bottom of the frame to retake the lead, 4-2. After Hodges and Kowlczyk reached on base with back-to-back singles and a Trey Eschberger walk, Will Mullen, with two outs, singled to bring in both Kowalczyk and Hodges.

The Blazers added some insurance runs in the bottom of the seventh. Kowalczyk started the scoring with a solo home run to left field, his third long ball of the year. Veith scored the second run of the inning with his third double of the day, bringing in Eschberger. Ammirati, batting after Veith, reached base on a fielding error, which brought home Mullen to make the score 7-2.

Up next, the Blazers prepare for a three-game conference series against Louisiana College. The series begins Friday at 6 p.m. from Smith-Wills Stadium.