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NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Belmont third baseman Matt Beaty homered twice and drove in five runs as the Bruins defeated the Morehead State baseball team 10-3 at Rose Park Saturday.
Belmont moved to 11-8 overall and 4-0 in the Ohio Valley Conference. Morehead State, which has now dropped five of its last seven games, slipped to 11-9 overall and 3-5 in the conference. Belmont now leads the series 7-1 and won the first two games of the 2015 season series.
The left-handed batter Beaty launched a two-run round-tripper in the first inning and topped it in the second with a three-run blast, both to right field. He now has six homers and 30 RBI in 2015. Second baseman Tyler Fullerton also connected on a solo home run in the second frame.
"We need to pitch better early," Head Coach Mike McGuire said. "The last two games we've been behind the eight-ball when we come to bat in the second inning. In this ballpark, it's not easy to put a bunch of hits together. The infield is slow and the ball doesn't travel as well. We haven't really played well in any phase this weekend. We made an error in left field early today that led to some more runs, we had a runner caught stealing and made a bad throw, and we need to have good at-bats right from the start of the at-bat, which we haven't."
The Bruins built an 8-0 cushion after two frames. MSU scored all three of its runs in the eigght via two sacrifice flies and a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch.
Belmont starter Aaron Quillen struck out six Eagles in six innings and only surrendered four hits to improve to 3-1. MSU sophomore right-hander Luke Humphreys lasted just two innings and only gave up four hits but was charged with eight runs to dip to 2-1. Freshman Brent Stoneking tossed five innings and only allowed two runs.
Senior catcher Chris Robinson and senior first baseman Kane Sweeney each extended their reached-base streaks to 27 games. Senior right-fielder Brandon Rawe and senior left-fielder Nick Newell recorded two hits apiece. Morehead State out-hit the hosts 8-7 but stranded 12 men on base.
Beaty and Fullerton had four of the Bruins' seven hits.
The teams are set to conclude the series on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. ET. The game will be shown live on OVCDigitalNetwork.com.
