THE RUNDOWN
ABILENE, Texas– The Belhaven University baseball team split a doubleheader matchup against Hardin-Simmons University Friday afternoon, defeating the Cowboys in game one 9-8 before falling in game two, 9-8.
In game one of the doubleheader matchup, Justin Milam gave Belhaven a 2-0 lead with a two run home run to left field that scored both he and Tucker Calhoun.
Leading 2-0 in the bottom of the second inning, the Cowboys utilized four runs to take a 4-2 lead before Belhaven trimmed to lead to 4-3 with a single in the infield from Logan Waters that pushed Julyan Urena across the board.
In the fourth inning, Belhaven tied the contest up with a double to left center field from Julyan Urena that allowed Evan Moore to score, knotting the game up at 4-4.
Hardin-Simmons scored three combined runs in the fifth and sixth inning to take a three run lead, 7-4.
Logan Walters powered the Blazers to tie the game up in the seventh inning, launching a three run home run to left field. The same inning, a Nick Lucido double to left centerfield scored Trip Benson to give Belhaven four runs in the seventh inning and giving the Green and Gold an 8-7 advantage.
The Cowboys once again tied the game up in the bottom half of the seventh inning, however the Blazers could not be denied in game one as Tucker Calhoun hit a fly ball to right field that was deep enough to the go ahead run, as Belhaven took a 9-8 lead.
David Hall closed out the final, two innings of the game, picking up the win in relief as Belhaven defeated the Cowboys 9-8 in game one.
Belhaven controlled game two from the beginning of the game as a Trip Benson single to centerfield in the first inning help give Belhaven the quick 1-0 lead.
In the second inning the Green and Gold extended its lead to 3-0 with a single from Tucker Calhoun that scored Evan Moore, as well as Julyan Urena on a wild pitch.
The Cowboys got one run back int he bottom of the second inning, yet an AJ Bratton bunt single allowed the Blazers to gain the run back and take a 4-1 lead.
Belhaven really stretched its lead out in the fourth and fifth inning with RBI doubles from Justin Milam (fourth inning) and Evan Moore (fifth inning), as well as RBI singles from AJ Bratton and Julyan Urena to put Belhaven ahead 8-3 at the end of five innings.
However, HSU answered with five unanswered runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, taking a 9-8 lead, before holding Belhaven in the final inning of a seven inning ballgame, taking the victory by a final score of 9-8 over the Green and Gold.
With a win in game one and loss in game two of Fridays doubleheader, Belhaven now owns an overall record of 9-17 with an overall Conference record of 2-12.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
In game one, Belhaven finished with 14 hits as a team.
Julyan Urena and Logan Walters led the way with three hits each. Walters had a three run home run while finishing with a team high four runs batted in.
Tucker Calhoun had two hits in game one when Justin Milam had two runs batted in with a two run home run in the first inning of the game.
David Hall picked up the win in relief to improve his record to 4-3 overall.
In game two, five Blazers had multiple hits: Trip Benson (3), Evan Moore (2), AJ Bratton (2), Tucker Calhoun (2), and Justin Milam (2).
Evan Moor finished 2-for-3 with two runs scored, one run batted in, and two doubles.
Trip Benson led Belhaven, finishing 3-for-4 with two runs scored, one run batted in and one double.
As a team, Belhaven tallied 13 hits in the game two loss to the Cowboys.
UP NEXT
The Blazers and the Cowboys will go head to head Saturday at 1:00 p.m. for the final game of the series.
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