After a short yet astonishing 14-3 record last season, the Belmont baseball team is hungry for another chance at competitive play.
The Bruins are prepared to move past the woes of last year’s 17-game season and prove to the university that they can compete at the highest level — the college world series.
Although the Ohio Valley Conference is still in the process of sorting out the baseball schedule, the Southeastern Conference’s University of Mississippi has announced that the Bruins will be battling a three-game series against the Rebels in early March.
Led by sophomore pitcher Joshua South, who was recently named Collegiate Baseball Newspaper’s Preseason OVC Pitcher of the Year, and Kyle Brennan, a junior pitcher who was also recognized by CB newspaper as one of the OVC’s Top Players to Watch, the Bruins are ready to prove to the student body that Belmont is more than a basketball powerhouse.
“God’s given us a good opportunity here to do something special. We need to make it to the big stage and get their respect,” said infielder Logan Jarvis.
Along with teammates Brennan, John Behrends, Logan Bowen, Jackson Campbell and Tommy Crider, Jarvis was also named Collegiate Baseball Newspaper’s OVC’s Top Players to Watch.
Belmont boasts an impressive roster — and last season, fans got to see a glimpse of what this team is capable of, but the season was cut short due to the pandemic.
“It was tough. I just remember we got to practice and we had been on Twitter from the night before, seeing teams from other conferences canceling the games and we thought this would probably be our last practice,” said Brennan.
But the baseball team is moving on from the what-ifs of last season and ready to dive into this season with the same winning mentality it had a year ago.
“We just gotta run it back this year and do the same things we were successful with last year,” said Brennan.
Given the Bruins’ offensive powerhouses and star players, there is no reason to doubt Belmont’s postseason potential.
An obvious goal for them this season is to win the conference — but Belmont’s ambitions don’t stop there.
“Three years ago, Tennessee Tech, a team in our region, was one game away from going to Omaha so we’re not gonna put that out of our reach. We can do it,” said Jarvis.
Joshua South, who pitched over the summer in the Coastal Plain League for the Savannah Bananas, said the Bruins’ goals are in reach as a result of their ability to motivate one another.
“Our team as a whole motivates each other, because when we’re at open field, you see the older guys pushing the younger guys to wanna work hard and work more often.”
“We’re always pushing each other whether we’re knowing it or not,” South said.
Although the OVC has not released the schedule for this upcoming season, it is likely to be released within the next couple of weeks, with the first game being sometime in mid-February.
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This article written by A.J. Wuest.