Belmont faced North Alabama in a windy matchup Tuesday afternoon, picking up their first home win of the season.
The game started with Belmont right-handed pitcher Cade Granzow on the mound, striking out the first North Alabama batter.
The Bruins had a solid defensive inning, only allowing one hit by the North Alabama offense and not allowing any runs.
Shortstop Pete Daniel got the Bruins their first hit of the game in the bottom of the first.
Nothing would make of that hit, and the first inning closed scoreless.
Granzow struck out the first batter of the second inning, and North Alabama Outfielder RJ Sherwood hit a ball that flew out to center fielder Michael Lareau.
North Alabama infielder Bryant Loving sent a Granzow pitch to left field and out of the park to take the early lead 1-0.
The bases were loaded in the bottom of the second after catcher Mike Sprockett singled, and both left fielder Blake Barton and designated hitter Wyatt Fooks were walked.
Third baseman Kaden Galason struck a ball down the left field line, batting in all the Bruins on base, to take the lead 3-1.
Following a putout to start the top of the third, North Alabama loaded the bases.
With the bases loaded, North Alabama outfielder Alex Wade walked to first, bringing home a teammate to make the score 3-2.
The score was followed by Sherwood getting walked to first, bringing in another teammate to tie the score 3-3.
The fourth inning boasted strong defenses from both teams.
Freshman right-handed pitcher Logan Brock got his first showing on the mound in the fourth and recorded his first strikeout.
In the top of the fifth inning, Sherwood batted in a runner to take the lead 4-3.
Another Freshman stepped on the mound for the game at the top of the eighth.
Jonathon Van Ness recorded three strikeouts across the eighth and ninth innings. The freshman pitcher scored five of the 12 strikeouts for the team.
Jarvis praised both of his freshman pitchers on their performances.
"First of all, Jonathan, he continues to grow and mature, and that's going to be an important piece as he continues to get better out there," Jarvis said. "I’m very excited to see Logan Brock coming off the injury and going out there being able to execute pitches the way that he is. He has good stuff."
Belmont was still down in the bottom of the ninth when Barton struck out to start the inning.
Fooks and Galason walked their way on base, and second baseman Charlie Davis singled to load the bases.
Daniel stepped onto the plate and got hit by the first pitch, walking Fooks home to tie the score 4-4.
Right fielder Ty Allen found no luck in his at-bat, striking out and forcing the game into the 10th inning.
North Alabama threatened the Bruins in the 10th inning, but wasn’t able to put the go-ahead run on the board.
Allen was placed on second base to start the bottom of the tenth.
Landon Godsey came up to bat and got hit, giving the Bruins runners on first and second base.
Barton stepped up to the plate and made contact with the ball. His first swing sent it down left field, and brought Allen home to win the game 5-4.
Barton has been dealing with injuries playing this season.
"I dealt with some injuries the first couple weeks of the season that I was playing through,” Barton said. "So just to start feeling healthier after that, and to just go up there and try to be who I am as a hitter and not try to be somebody I am not, it's probably what has allowed me to start to feel my rhythm again."
The Bruins move to 2-10 and play Tennessee Tech for their second and final season meeting at home at E.S Rose Park on Wednesday at 4 p.m.
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This article was written by Reece Leddy.