Baseball Blows Lead Late, Falls In Extra Innings

Jake Maddox. (Sam Dicus)

 Despite leading by three runs heading into the ninth inning, the Bruins could not close the door on the Middle Tennessee State University Blue Raiders, losing 10-8 in 13 innings.

Belmont’s baseball team led by five runs after four innings, six runs after six innings and led by one run with two strikes and two outs in the top of the ninth.

“I felt like MTSU did a good job at the plate. They took advantage of the opportunities that we gave them, and our bullpen did not perform and step up when we needed it to,” said Bruins’ head coach Dave Jarvis. 

Belmont started sophomore left-handed pitcher Lake Morris on the bump, who held MTSU to one run across a career-best 5 2/3 innings of work.

The Gallatin, TN native allowed five hits, two hit batsmen and a walk while striking out six Blue Raiders and exiting with a 5-1 lead in a no-decision.

In comparison, Belmont’s bullpen surrendered nine runs on 11 hits and six walks across 7 1/3 innings of work.

Sailing was not smooth for Morris initially, as he loaded the bases in the first inning with two hit batters bookended around a ground rule double, but he escaped the inning with a strikeout and a popout.

In the second inning, sophomore first baseman Jake Maddox hit an opposite-field solo blast for his fourth home run of the season to give the Bruins the lead.

Redshirt senior catcher Mike Sprockett provided an encore with a solo home run of his own to nearly the same spot, making it 2-0 after the back-to-back jacks.

Senior second baseman Charlie Davis took advantage of an error by his positional counterpart by coming around to score on a double from graduate third baseman Landon Godsey to make it 3-0 through three innings.

Maddox, who went to high school less than a mile away from MTSU’s campus, crushed another home run against his hometown team, this one a majestic solo blast to right field for his third home run in his last four games.

After Sprockett laced a double to left field, Charlie Davis brought him home with a sacrifice fly to center field to make it 5-0 in the fourth.

MTSU got on the board in the sixth with back-to-back doubles, and Morris’ day ended there, beginning the revolving door of Bruin relievers.

Belmont responded by plating two runs on three walks, two hits and a hit-by-pitch in the bottom of the sixth.

Sophomore left-handed pitcher Krish Gandhi came in with one runner on in the top of the seventh and faced pinch hitter Matt Wolfe. 

Wolfe jumped all over Gandhi’s second offering for his first home run in exactly two months, a no-doubt, two-run blast to left center field to cut the lead to four. 

Belmont got back on the board in the bottom of the seventh, when freshman designated hitter Nate Webb hit a missile out to left field for a solo home run, making it 8-4.

That’s where the good times ended for the Bruins.

Back-to-back doubles from the heart of MTSU’s order brought the score to 8-5 in the eighth.

In the ninth, Belmont called on Jonathan Van Ness, a hard-throwing sophomore right-hander, to earn the save and secure the victory. 

Coming off his first save of the year against ETSU, Van Ness gave up a ground-rule double to second baseman Cooper Clapp, Clapp’s third ground-rule double of the game– to start. 

Then, designated hitter Layne Akers hit a shallow fly ball to right field that right fielder Brody Langlotz misplayed for Akers’ fourth hit and third double.

With runners on second and third and one out, catcher Dean O’Neil hit another double to right, scoring Clapp and putting runners back on second and third. 

An RBI groundout saw the Bruins trade a run for an out, cutting the lead to one and securing the second out of the inning. 

Van Ness walked the eight-hole hitter to put runners on the corners before quickly getting to a 1-2 count against the hero of the seventh inning, Wolfe. 

Then, Van Ness was called for an incredibly rare pitch clock violation to bring the count to 2-2.

That seemingly trivial violation cost the Bruins a run, as Van Ness spiked the next pitch in the dirt for a wild pitch that brought home the tying run.

Belmont went quickly and quietly in the ninth, resulting in extra innings.

The Bruins called on starter Tate Marland for the tenth inning, who provided Belmont with three-straight scoreless innings. 

However, the offense could not take advantage. 

Sprockett led off the 10th with a single, but his pinch runner was doubled off first on a line drive caught by Clapp at second base.

After a leadoff walk in the 13th, Marland delivered a pitch he would certainly like to have back.

O’Neil crushed a two-run blast off the center field batter’s eye to give the Blue Raiders a 10-8 lead they would not relinquish. 

With victory seemingly in its grasp, Belmont squandered plenty of opportunities to put away the game long before O’Neil stepped to the plate. 

“I felt like we left way too many men on base throughout the course of the ball game when we needed a big hit to put things further out of reach,” said Jarvis.

The Bruins left seven runners on base across the 13 innings, and their bats were stifled by the last two arms out of MTSU’s bullpen.

Beranek and Gavin King combined to give up three hits and one run across 7 1/3 innings, striking out 12 Bruins along the way.

From after the Webb home run in the seventh to the end of the game, Belmont had just three runners reach base, two of which were thrown out on the basepaths and one was with two outs in the bottom of the 13th.

“Hopefully, we learned the fact that you have to continue to play the game of baseball, and we’ve got to make sure that we’re better out of the bullpen in late-game situations like that,” said Jarvis.

Jarvis was optimistic about the rest of the season, even after the disappointing defeat. 

“It’s a tough midweek loss,” said Jarvis. “But, this team has got a lot of baseball left this spring.”

Belmont baseball is back in action this weekend, when Evansville University comes to E.S. Rose Park for a three-game conference series.  This article was written by Sam Dicus