Baseball Drops Battle Of The Boulevard

Belmont Vision Multimedia. (Zach Watkins)

Belmont baseball traveled to face Lipscomb in Tuesday’s first Battle of the Boulevard matchup of the season, falling 8-2 to the Bisons.

Freshman Cole Kenyon made his first career start in this rivalry game for the Bruins, and the offense gave him some early run support. 

In the top of the first, graduate third baseman Landon Godsey gave Belmont a 1-0 lead after working a one-out walk and scoring on sophomore first baseman Jake Maddox’s RBI single. 

Kenyon did not hold onto the lead for long, as senior designated hitter Keaton Mahan tied the score at one apiece with an RBI single of his own in the bottom of the first. 

Neither squad mustered any offense in the second, and Lipscomb ended graduate Ryan Kutz’s day early, bringing in freshman reliever Jackson Lee. 

Despite a leadoff single from senior second basemen Charlie Davis, Lee made quick work of the rest of the lineup with two punchouts. 

Kenyon started the third with a punchout of his own, but things quickly went sideways for the Bruins. 

Sophomore second baseman Brady Miller had a one-out single and reached third base on a throwing error from Kenyon on a pickoff attempt. 

Lipscomb followed that up with back-to-back run-scoring extra-base hits, and suddenly, it was junior Aubrey Moraitikis’ turn to try to quiet the Bisons’ bats. 

He gave up an RBI single to the first batter he faced, but an 8-6 putout erased the runner and gave Belmont its second out. 

After a single, an RBI triple and a strikeout, the Bruins escaped the inning down 5-1. 

Neither offense scored in either the fourth or fifth inning, but the Bruins finally got through to Lee in the sixth. 

With one out in the inning, Maddox stroked a ball just outside of the diving centerfielder’s reach for his third triple of the season. Freshman leftfielder J.D. Whitworth followed that up with an RBI single, cutting the lead to 5-2. 

However, Whitworth was nabbed trying to steal second base soon thereafter, and Belmont could not muster any more runs. 

In the home half of the sixth, sophomore Krish Gandhi was entering his second inning of work and was in a jam. 

Gandhi surrendered a leadoff walk and then fielded a scorcher back up the middle but was unable to get the lead runner. A one-out hit-by-pitch followed, and his day was done. 

Graduate Brooks McDonnough inherited runners on first and second with one out, but McDonnough needed just one pitch to induce an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play. 

Belmont was unable to capitalize on that momentum in a scoreless top of the seventh, and they headed into the seventh-inning stretch still trailing 5-2. 

The seventh inning began with an error by freshman centerfielder Kyle Coleman, which put the leadoff runner at second base. Then, a McDonnough balk moved the runner over to third. 

A strikeout and an intentional walk put runners on the corners with one out, and Junior third baseman Cam Pruitt scored the lead runner with an RBI single. 

Then, the runners on first and second executed a double steal, with the lead runner scoring on a throwing error by freshman catcher Noah Burnham. 

McDonnough induced a flyball out to centerfield for the second out, but a bloop RBI single landed in short right field and made it 8-2.  

The Bruins ended up escaping the inning, but the damage was done. 

Belmont did not get a runner in scoring position over the last two innings, and Lipscomb was crowned the victor of the Battle of the Boulevard. 

Lee earned his first career win after pitching five one-run innings of relief to go along with seven punchouts. 

Kenyon took the loss after pitching two and a third innings and allowing four runs. He walked no one and had one strikeout. 

The Bisons scored eight runs on 13 hits and three Belmont errors, while the Bruins mustered two runs on seven hits. 

Belmont was led offensively by its four and five-hole hitters, Maddox and Whitworth, who combined to go 4-5 with two RBI, two walks, a triple and a run. 

The Bruins will look to avenge their loss when they host the next Battle of the Boulevard on March 24. 

Now 2-6 on the year, Belmont will be hosting the Georgia State Panthers this weekend for a four-game homestand. 

 This article was written by Sam Dicus