PEARL, Miss. - The No. 8 ranked Belhaven Baseball team opened conference play in comeback fashion on Friday night, rallying from an early deficit to defeat Maryville 7-5, at Trustmark Park.  

The Blazers improve to 15-3 overall on the season with the win in their first conference game of the year.

Maryville jumped out to an early lead in the top of the first, stringing together three straight hits and capitalizing on a defensive miscue to plate three runs and take a 3-0 advantage.

Belhaven responded in the second inning to get on the board. After Trey Flettrich reached and moved into scoring position, Chess Parker singled to put runners on the corners. Jake McCann followed with an RBI single to center, scoring Flettrich and cutting the deficit to 3-1.  

The Blazers continued to chip away in the fourth. Owen Abney led off the inning with a solo home run to left field, trimming the lead to one and bringing the momentum back to Belhaven.

Maryville added a run in the fifth on an RBI single to extend the lead to 4-2, but Belhaven answered with its biggest inning of the night in the sixth.

After Hayden Roberts singled and stole second to spark the rally, Parker Ryan delivered an RBI single to make it 4-3. Later in the inning, with two runners in scoring position, Parker came through again with a clutch two-run single up the middle to give the Blazers their first lead of the game at 5-4.  

The momentum swung briefly in the seventh as Maryville tied the game at 5-5 on a balk with runners in scoring position, but Belhaven quickly responded in the bottom half.

Belhaven regained control in the seventh with aggressive baserunning and pressure on the defense.

Nick Thornton singled to start the inning before Roberts dropped down a bunt single that led to a throwing error, allowing Thornton to score and Roberts to advance all the way to third. Moments later, Abney reached on a wild pitch after a strikeout, bringing Roberts home to push the lead to 7-5.  

Belhaven's pitching staff shut the door late.

After working through traffic in the sixth, the bullpen took over and delivered three scoreless innings. Cooper Sirk earned the win with a clean seventh, while Caleb Menard handled the eighth. John Wade closed it out in the ninth, striking out two to secure his fourth save of the season.  

Belhaven continues its three-game series with Maryville, hosting the Scots for a doubleheader tomorrow at Trustmark Park. First pitch is set for 11:00 AM.

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