HTML STATS | PDF STATS
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Belmont's baseball team edged Morehead State 5-4 Sunday at Rose Park to finish off a three-game Ohio Valley Conference series sweep.
Belmont won its ninth straight game to improve to 12-8 overall and 5-0 in the league. Morehead State, which has dropped six of its last eight, fell to 11-10 overall and 3-6 in the conference.
MSU had 1-0 and 3-2 early leads, but the Bruins silenced the Eagle offense in six of the final seven innings. Belmont scored twice in the fourth and added what turned out to be the winning edge in the sixth. The Eagles left nine runners on base and were just 1-of-13 with runners in scoring position.
"We competed better today, but we just failed to get the big hit," Head Coach Mike McGuire said. "For whatever reason, our starting pitching has not been what we need it to be lately. We walked too many guys and threw too many wild pitches."
MSU starter David Calderon (0-1) was pinned with the loss after allowing four runs on six hits in 3.2 innings. He issued five walks and unleashed four wild pitches. Belmont scored via a bases-loaded walk and a wild pitch. Junior right-hander Matt Anderson (3 IP, 4 H, 1 R) and sophomore Cable Wright (1.1 IP, o H, 0 R) finished out the contest.
"I thought Matt and Cable did a nice job of keeping the game close and giving us a chance," McGuire said.
Senior catcher Chris Robinson launched his second home run of the year over the left-field fence in the first inning. MSU scored twice in the second on a throwing error.
Belmont third baseman Matt Beaty, catcher Alec Diamond, second baseman Tyler Fullerton and right-fielder Brennan Washington recorded two hits apiece. Beaty drove in his teammates with singles in the fourth and sixth frames.
Belmont starter Patrick McGrath (2-1) was credited with the win, surrendering just four hits in five innings. Matthew Kinney picked up his first save.
MSU senior third baseman Blaine Tanner led the Eagles with a 3-for-4 effort. Robinson had a pair of hits to extend his reached-base streak to 28 games. Senior first baseman Kane Sweeney singled to keep his reached-base streak intact at 28 games, including all 21 games this season.
"Baseball is a game of runs, and we are in a negative run right now," McGuire said. "But, I told the team it's a long season, and we can easily turn a negative run into a positive one starting with our mid-week contests this week."
Morehead State is at Northern Kentucky on Tuesday at 3 p.m. ET and has a make-up game at Kentucky Wednesday at 4 p.m.
