Thursday, February 11, 2010

MACON, Ga. - As the 2010 NCAA Baseball season approaches, the Atlantic Sun Conference takes a look at each team leading up to the start of the season Feb. 19. The Belmont Bruins are thrust into the conference spotlight today.

Overview
Belmont posted a mark of 29-29 in 2009 with a conference record of 15-15 to finish sixth in the final conference standings. The Bruins season ended a year ago in the semifinals of the A-Sun tournament in a loss to Jacksonville. The Bruins return 19 letterwinners including 11 pitchers. The Bruins look to replace almost half of their run production from a season ago. The 2009 Bruins excelled at holding the lead posting a league best 15-5 mark when leading after the first inning. Belmont ranked nationally in inducing the double play as the Bruins forced their opponents into 65 double plays, which ranked 14th in the country.

Top Returnees
Dylan Craig picked up preseason honors from the coaches after a freshman campaign which saw him rank second in the nation in triples. Craig earned A-Sun Freshman of the Year honors a season ago and Louisville Slugger named him to their Freshman All-American team. The Signal Mountain, Tenn. native also finished nationally ranked in hits (36th, 92), batting average (82nd, .397) and sacrifice flies (14th, eight)

Matt Zeblo returns to the Burins in the starting catchers spot after posting 55 starts a season ago. The Raliegh, N.C. native posted a .335 average to rank him third on the team. The junior recorded five home runs 35 RBI and a .467 slugging percentage.

Nate Woods made six starts on the mound for the Bruins in 2009 record a record of 3-1 with 26 strikeouts and a 2.02 ERA. The Cedar Rapids, Iowa native walked only nine batters and allowed only one home run. Despite only making six starts, the junior could have posted an even more impressive record as he left two games with the score tied or with Belmont in the lead.

Newcomers
Belmont’s group of nine newcomers will make an immediate impact to fill the available holds at infield and pitching positions after 2009. Two out of the Bruin infield heard their names called during the MLB Draft; Atlantic Sun all-time home run leader Derek Wiley and second baseman Daniel Wagner, the second-highest Bruin ever selected in the MLB Draft in the NCAA era. Additionally, the Bruins lost a three-year starter at third base, Brandon McCall, to graduation.

Although positions and lineup spots remain available going into spring practice, freshman Jared Breen and Judah Akers shape up to be in the front of the line to refresh the infield roster. Breen, a former Rawlings Georgia Defensive Player of the Year, has shown the necessary tools to make an immediate impact at second base.

Akers turned some heads this fall by showing power at the plate in clutch situations during the Gray-Red Fall World Series. The Cookeville, Tenn., native will compete to start at third base this season.

Chase Brookshire, a left-handed pitcher and All-State selection in Tennessee, comes to Belmont with the potential to become a weekend starter by the time conference season rolls around, if not before. In his senior season at McCallie School in Chattanooga Brookshire showed outstanding control with strikeout-to-walk ratio of nearly 7:1. He will be used primarily as a pitcher at Belmont, but has a great track record in the outfield at McCallie as well, hitting .445 with 35 RBI his senior season.

Freshman Josh Davis and junior college transfer Tim Egerton represent two versatile newcomers whose presence will make an impact on both the field and the mound.

Davis comes from Greater Gwinnet Christian, one of the top homeschooled teams in the nation – winning the Homeschool World Series Association title for the third straight year in 2009. In his senior year, Davis dominated both on the mound (5-1 with a 2.50 ERA) and at the plate (.372 batting average, 40 RBI).

Egerton spent two years at Columbia State Community College and will prove to be a versatile player at nearly every position on the field. His depth he will add to the pitching staff will be invaluable when the conference season starts to heat up.

Schedule
The Bruins begin the season with a three-game series against Evansville (2009 record: 25-20) from Feb. 19-20 in Shelby Park. The Purple Aces mark the third time in four years that Belmont has faced a Missouri Valley Conference opponent to open the season. In last season's home opener Belmont won two of three games against Illinois State, and in 2007 the Bruins opened up with two wins against Bradley.

Belmont will trade home games with six area teams - Western Kentucky, Murray State, MTSU, Tennessee Tech, UT Martin, and Austin Peay - which will make up a majority of the Bruins' non-conference slate. The regional matchups begin at home with WKU (42-20) on Feb. 24. The Hilltoppers earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history after sharing the Sun Belt regular season title. Belmont will travel to WKU on April 7, to fulfill the two-game series.

Eleven of Belmont's 28 non-conference games will feature matchups with teams from the Ohio Valley Conference, beginning with a three-game series against Eastern Illinois (36-14) from Feb. 26-28. After facing the 2009 regular season champions, the Bruins will travel to Murray State (34-21-1) on March 2 for the first of 21 road games during the season.

Belmont's OVC tour resumes on March 23 when the Bruins host 2009 tournament champion Tennessee Tech (31-24-1) in Shelby Park. Senior Day takes place on May 18 against UT Martin (20-31) - the last home game of the season. The Austin Peay series will take place on the road on April 20 and at home on the 28th.

Belmont will play two Southeastern Conference teams with Vanderbilt (37-27) on April 6 at Hawkins Field in Nashville, and Tennessee (26-29) on April 27 in Knoxville.

Belmont will face three new opponents in 2010 including Cleveland State, Eastern Michigan and Evansville. All games will be played at Shelby Park. Eastern Michigan (25-35) plays three games in two days from March 5-6, and Cleveland State (21-31) squares off with Belmont on March 16 and 17.

The Bruins' first substantial road trip, a nine-game swing, includes a stop in Arkansas to play Arkansas-Little Rock for the first time since 1998.

The Bruins open the conference season on the road against reigning Atlantic Sun Tournament Champion Jacksonville (37-22) on March 12. The Dolphins eliminated Belmont en route to their fourth A-Sun title and sixth berth in the NCAA Tournament.

Fun Fact
The Burins have a great deal of run production to replace in 2010. Departed Burins Derek Wiley and Brandon McCall started all 58 games for Belmont in the third and fourth spots in the batting order. Only two other players in the conference started all of their team’s games in the same spot in the order. McCall and Wiley combined to score or drive in 46.7 percent of Belmont’s runs a season ago.

Fans can follow the Atlantic Sun on Twitter and on Facebook. Visit twitter.com/AtlanticSun to begin receiving updates on conference news, weekly awards, and from A-Sun championships. Atlantic Sun followers with a Facebook account can become a "fan" of the conference by visiting facebook.com/AtlanticSunConference.

11 Days of Atlantic Sun Baseball Schedule
Feb. 4 – USC Upstate
Feb. 5 – Campbell
Feb. 8 – ETSU
Feb. 9 – Mercer
Feb. 10 – UNF
Feb. 11 – Belmont
Feb. 12 – Stetson
Feb. 15 – Lipscomb
Feb. 16 – Jacksonville
Feb. 17 – Kennesaw State
Feb. 18 – FGCU