THE RUNDOWN
JACKSON, Miss. - The Belhaven University baseball team split a doubleheader matchup with the Sul Ross State Lobos Friday evening in American Southwest Conference play, falling 1-0 in game one and winning 3-0 in game two.
In game one, the Lobos scored first in the top half of the third inning, with two hits and a single to short to put the visiting Lobos ahead 1-0.
Sul Ross held the Blazers for the remainder of the game, allowing no runs on two hits to claim game one over the Green and Gold, 1-0.
Despite the loss, starting pitcher Hunter Sanford threw a complete game, going the full seven innings with six allowed hits, one run, and five strikeouts.
In game two, David Hall went head to head on the mound with the Lobos starter, Aaron Marquez in a pitching duel.
Belhaven only had three hits through the first six innings of play, but struck first with a sacrifice squeeze attempt, scoring Hunter White from third to give Belhaven a 1-0 lead.
Two innings later, in the bottom of the eighth inning, Belhaven extended its lead to 2-0 with an RBI single to left centerfield from Nick Lucido, scoring Nathan Herron from second base.
An error by the pitcher aided the Blazers with one more run in the eighth, increasing the Green and Gold's lead to 3-0.
Closer, Jacob Phillips closed out the ninth inning, earning the save, as the Blazers won by a final score of 3-0 to split the doubleheader Friday night versus the Lobos.
ASSISTANT COACH JOSH CLARKE ON THE PERFORMANCES OF HALL AND SANFORD
"Can't say enough about the efforts of David (Hall) and Hunter (Sanford). They absolutely gave us everything they had and carried the team on their backs. Overall, just a gritty effort by our team finding a way to get it done after a tough loss in game 1. Should be another good one tomorrow in the rubber match."
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
- Julyan Urena and Justin Milam had the only hits in game one for the Blazers.
- Hunter Sanford went the complete game, allowing only one run on six hits, and five strikeouts.
- Julyan Urena, Hunter White, and Trip Benson each had one hit in game two.
- Nick Lucido finished with one hit and a team-high two runs batted in. Lucido also had one run scored along with Hunter White and Nathan Herron.
- Starting pitcher David Hall had a career night in game two, going seven innings on the mound, with 14 strikeouts, four hits, and no runs allowed. Hall picked up the win to improve to 3-0 on the hill.
UP NEXT
Belhaven will play Sul Ross State tomorrow with the first pitch set for 1:00 p.m. for the final game of the series.
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