JACKSON, Miss. - After breaking a three-game losing skid on Tuesday with a 20-4 victory over Huntingdon, the Belhaven baseball team will turn their attention to No. 10/12 Texas Dallas for a three-game, American Southwest Conference series this weekend from Smith-Wills Stadium.
The series begins Friday afternoon at 4 p.m., with a doubleheader commencing on Saturday at 1 p.m.
BU, in their last series, fell to Mary Hardin-Baylor in a three-game sweep on the road. However, the losing streak was halted on Tuesday afternoon with the victory over the Hawks.
The Green and Gold scored 20 times on Huntingdon for the 15th time in school history, and the first time since Feb. 29, 2012, when Belhaven shutout Rust College, 22-0.
The 20 runs and 18 hits acquired by the Blazers are the most in the 2017 season.
Will Costinett and
Terrell Hodges each smashed a homer in the win, with Hodges hitting a grand slam and driving in a career-best six runs.
In the game, the Blazers scored in every inning but the sixth, and every player in the starting lineup recorded a hit and scored a run.
Now at 17-12 on the year and 7-8 in ASC play, the Blazers are 12-4 at home, including winning eight of their last 10 games.
The Comets of the University of Texas at Dallas (20-6, 9-3), before losing their last two games, had won their last five, including a sweep of LeTourneau two weeks ago and taking two of three from McMurry last weekend.
On Tuesday, the Comets fell to Texas Wesleyan, ranked 11th in the latest NAIA Baseball poll, 6-4 in Richardson.
UTD is ranked in two different polls for NCAA Division III Baseball. They are ranked 10th in the
Collegiate Baseball Newspaper poll and 12th in the
D3Baseball.Com poll.
As a team, the Comets offense is one of the tops in the conference with a .350 batting average. One of the key leaders of the offense is junior transfer Barry Casey. The Northeast Texas Community College transfer is near the top in almost every offensive category. He has recorded 47 hits, scored 28 runs, six home runs and drove in 39 in 26 games.
Along with Casey, there are three other Comets with a batting average of .400 or more: Isaiah Swann (.419), Josh Covey (.413) and Ryan Burciaga (.404).
On the mound, Ruben Renteria is undefeated in his seven starts in 2017 with a 6-0 record. The junior transfer has allowed eight earned runs in 44 innings pitched for a 1.69 ERA.
Also a key piece of the UTD rotation is Jamie Andriot, who is also undefeated (6-0) in his six starts this season, leading the team in strikeouts with 49 in 46 innings pitched.
In the bullpen, Tristin DerMargosian has allowed four walks and two earned runs in 20.2 innings this season.
The team's ERA of 3.55 is second in conference play, while the 62 walks allowed is the fewest of the 13 teams in the conference.
For the latest news on Belhaven Blazers athletics, follow @BelhavenBlazers on Twitter and Instagram, and like us on Facebook.
