An eighth inning rally sparked by a bases-loaded walk sealed the fate of the Belmont baseball team in a 5-3 road loss to the Lipscomb Bisons.
After loading the bases in the next-to-last inning, relief pitcher Jessie Snodgrass walked in the go-ahead run and then allowed the Bisons’ last two runs off a Taylor Stewart double.
The rally was one pitch away from being avoided, however, when Snodgrass threw a inside pitch with two strikes and two outs that some fans thought could end the inning. Coach Dave Jarvis was hesitant to judge the call after the game Tuesday night.
“We have to look at ourselves first,” he said. “…You have to remember it’s a 1-2 count. Balls three and four weren’t nearly as close.”
The late rally, coupled with the 13 Bruins left on base during the game, gave Belmont its second loss in 12 games.
“Anytime we could get them in a jeopardy situation, they got out of it,” Jarvis said. “In a ballgame that tight for eight innings, that’s going to matter.”
Belmont took an early lead in the first with a Drew Turner sacrifice fly which brought in Drew Ferguson from third. The Bisons tied the game in the bottom of the inning with an RBI single from Aaron Sandoval and then took a 2-1 lead in the second inning after a sacrifice groundout brought in Chad Shannon.
From there, neither team scored again until the eighth, although both teams had runners in scoring position for multiple innings. Lipscomb led off the fifth, sixth and seventh innings with singles, but were unable to score in any of them.
The Bruins fared no better until the eighth, when third baseman Scotty Moses got on base with an infield single with two strikes and two outs, and then stole second before scoring on a Jamie Ritchie double. While Lipscomb pitcher Tyler Burstrom gave up the run, he received the win for the night – his third of the season.
Snodgrass took the loss for the Bruins, dropping his season record to 4-2.
In the ninth inning, the Bruins loaded the bases for the second time in the game, but could only score one run off a Tyson Ashcroft walk. A Moses strikeout ended the game with the tying run on second base.
The Bruins fell to 23-8 with the loss. They will resume Ohio Valley Conference play with a home series versus SIU Edwardsville this weekend.