LaGrange, Georgia - The Belhaven University baseball team split a doubleheader Friday afternoon against the LaGrange College Panthers, winning game one 6-3 and falling in game two 19-1.

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INSIDE THE MATCHUP

Final: Belhaven 6, LaGrange 3 (Game one)  LaGrange 19, Belhaven 1 (Game two)

Records: Belhaven 12-23 | LaGrange 27-16

Location: Cleaveland Field | Williamson Stadium | LaGrange, Georgia 

Get Social: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram | @BelhavenBlazers | www.blazers.belhaven.edu

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HOW IT HAPPENED

- Game one

- The Blazers struck first in the top of the first inning when Kreg Garner singled up the middle, scoring Colton Fontana to give the green and gold a quick 1-0 lead.  

- LaGrange answered in the next half inning after James Poropatic grounded into a double play, scoring the runner from third base. 

- After a leadoff triple from Kreg Garner to begin the top of the fourth, Justin Acevedo flew out to left field, scoring Garner from third base. Belhaven led 2-1 heading to the bottom of the fourth.

- The next half inning McKinley Erves singled up the middle, scoring Jack Layrisson to tie the ball game at 2-2. Two batters later for LaGrange, Rhett Hollon singled scoring McKinley Erves to give the Panthers a 3-2 advantage in the bottom of the fourth.

- Offensively Belhaven continued to swing the stick effectively as Will Costinett doubled down the left field line to score two runners, as Belhaven retook the lead 4-3. The very next at-bat a pass ball allowed Belhaven to add to its lead, 5-3.

- With Costinett on third after the pass ball, Kreg Garner doubled into the right-field gap, scoring Costinett to make it a 6-3 game. Through five innings Garner was 3-for-3 with a single, a double, a triple, and two runs batted in.

- Hunter Sanford went the complete game on the mound, shutting out the Panthers the rest of the way to give the Blazers a 6-3 victory in game one. 

- Game two

- LaGrange crossed the plate in the bottom of the first inning after a single through the left side to take the lead 1-0. 

- The Panthers put up an eight spot in the bottom of the second inning to go ahead 9-0. 

- Evan Moore hit a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Tucker Calhoun from third to put the Blazers on the board 9-1. 

- LaGrange was able to earn the run back in the bottom of the third making it a 10-1 ball game after three innings.

- Three more runs crossed the plate for the Panthers in the bottom of the fourth. At the end of four innings, LaGrange had a 13-1 lead.

- With the help of a grand slam in the fifth, LaGrange went on to defeat the Blazers 19-1 in game two.

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KEY STATISTICS

- Game one

- Kreg Garner finished with an impressive offensive showing as he went 3-for-4 with a triple, double, single, two runs batted in, and one run scored. (Garner nearly hit for the cycle in his fourth plate appearance, crushing a ball over the right-field wall in the sixth inning but missing foul by a matter of inches) 

- Will Costinett went 2-for-4 with two runs batted in and a run scored.

- Reed Bolton finished 2-for-3 and crossed the plate once. 

- Justin Acevedo, Colton Fontana, and Trip Benson each collected one hit in the contest.

- Collectively, the Blazers finished with ten hits in game one. 

- Hunter Sanford (4-6) pitched the complete game going 7.0 innings, giving up nine hits, three runs, and striking out five Panther batters. Sanford picked up his fourth win of the season. 

- Game two

- Drew Bellipanni, Reed Bolton, and Tucker Calhoun each finished with one hit in the contest. 

- Tucker Calhoun scored the only run for the Blazers while Evan Moore had the only run batted in for the game.

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UP NEXT

Belhaven and LaGrange will play the series finale tomorrow with first pitch set for 1:00 p.m. EDT.

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