Love on Valentine's Day will have to share the air with line drives and fly balls as the 2025 Belmont baseball season begins on Friday.
The Bruins finished last season with injuries and a losing record, marking back-to-back losing records since their debut in the Missouri Valley Conference in 2023.
With 16 total graduates, the team had to say goodbye to key offensive weapons such as Mason Landers, Brodey Heaton and Sam Slaughter.
Slaughter led the entire conference in stolen bases last year with 23.
Pitchers Dominic Baratta and Jett Thielke were among the key senior pitchers that graduated last season.
But what the roster lost with seniors, it gained back with recruits.
Thirteen freshmen joined the roster this season, a noticeably larger amount compared to last season’s seven.
Belmont is going to be using all that they can out of these young players even with its now healthy roster of upperclassmen for their tough schedule ahead.
“We got to grow them up fast, but we still gotta be patient, and it's going to be a challenge this year,” said Assistant Coach and Recruiting Coordinator Jason Stein.
Belmont will be hosting Kentucky, which made the College World Series last season, and Notre Dame. The Bruins will also face their powerhouse rivals of No. 4 Tennessee, last year's College World Series champion, and No. 16 Vanderbilt.
With the team headed by the newly inducted American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame Coach Dave Jarvis, the Bruins plan to approach these games with the same approach as for any other opponent on the schedule.
“We want to make sure that we go out there and play our game and that we execute what we're trying to get accomplished, both defensively on the mound and at the plate,” said Jarvis.
Belmont could have an upper hand with Stein being a former assistant coach at Duke, regularly playing its Atlantic Coast Conference rival of Notre Dame, though Notre Dame seems to have changed since his time in the ACC.
“They have an entirely new staff, so their recruiting efforts have completely changed. The way they probably run the program has changed, the way that they philosophically play the game has changed,” said Stein.
Junior right-handed pitcher Will Pryor is looking forward to the challenges ahead.
“It’s hard to not be excited about Kentucky and Notre Dame coming to town. So those are two really big non conference weekends that I'm really looking forward to,” said Pryor.
Pryor was one of the top starters of last season before getting injured but is set to return on the mound this season.
Pryor was awarded Tennessee Sports Writers Association Pitcher of the Week last season against Little Rock, recording a career-best 11 strikeouts in a game.
Sophomore right-handed pitcher Jake Timbes is looking to make a return to the mound as well after an injury last year also cut his season short.
Sophomore infielder Pete Daniel had a stellar freshman season last year, playing 57 total games and starting 56 of them.
Daniel managed to end the season with a .952 fielding percentage and had a team-high 152 assists.
Senior catcher Blake Barton had a memorable season last year, ranking No.12 in the MVC for stolen bases.
Junior right-handed pitcher Joe Ruzicka also had an accomplished season as the only Belmont pitcher with over 50 innings pitched and over 60 strikeouts.
Ruzicka was awarded with 2024 All-MVC Honorable Mention.
This year marks the Bruins third season as a member of the MVC, but they have yet to see the success they were accustomed to in their years in the Ohio Valley Conference.
Coach Jarvis is confident in his returners and the potential of this season.
“We're excited about what we think this lineup can bring and what some of those new pieces are going to be capable of,” said Jarvis.
The Belmont Bruins will open their season at Georgia State in Decatur, Georgia.
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This article was written by Reece Leddy
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