Saturday, February 26, 2011

STARKVILLE, Miss. – Junior Dylan Craig (Signal Mountain, Tenn.) hit his first home run of the season to propel Belmont (3-3, 0-0) to a 2-1 victory over Mississippi State (5-1, 0-0) on Friday afternoon.

The Bruins were down 1-0 for the majority of the contest before Craig's inside the park home run scored senior Derek Hamblen (Plano, Texas) and himself to take the lead in the top of the ninth. Hamblen led off the ninth with a single to right center field.

The two run shot by Craig came off of Mississippi State starter Devin Jones. The Bulldogs' ace had gone eight innings, only giving up three hits and striking out five before the start of the final inning. MSU's Caleb Reed came in to stop the bleeding and finished out the ninth.

Belmont senior Jon Ivie (Summertown, Tenn.) came in to close in the bottom of the ninth and recorded his third save in as many appearances during the 2011 season. Ivie got the first Mississippi State batter to ground out before hitting the next. Allowing the Bulldog player on base did not hurt Belmont, as the game ended on the next pitch as MSU's Ryan Collins grounded into a double play.