Wednesday, May 11, 2011

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Belmont baseball team (27-21, 14-10) set an NCAA record with 19 first inning runs, defeating UT-Martin (18-27, 9-8) by a score of 24-3 in the first game of a Wednesday doubleheader at Rose Park in Nashville.

The first 15 batters for the Bruins recorded hits and ended up scoring in that record setting first inning. Belmont scored 14 runs before the Skyhawks were able to record the first out of the frame, as BU batted around twice. Five Belmont players hit home runs in the game, including the first career homer by junior Zac Mitchell (Cordova, Tenn.).

"It's just a testament to our players' mental focus at the plate," Head Coach Dave Jarvis said. "These guys keep putting in quality at bat after quality at bat, and it paid off in that first inning for us." It's great to set a record like that, but these next six conference games are what is really important at this point."

The Bruins topped the previous record of 18 first inning runs, set by Air Force against Metro State. The NCAA record for most runs in any inning is 21 held by Wichita State and Pennsylvania, each coming in the sixth inning of 1984 and 1983 games, respectively.

PLAY-BY-PLAY of Belmont's First Inning

CRAIG walked.
HAMBLEN walked; CRAIG advanced to second.
WOODS singled to left field; HAMBLEN advanced to second; CRAIG advanced to third.
ZEBLO hit by pitch, RBI; WOODS advanced to second; HAMBLEN advanced to third; CRAIG scored. 1-0
EGERTON hit by pitch, RBI; ZEBLO advanced to second; WOODS advanced to third; HAMBLEN scored. 2-0 
YOUNG, C. to p for CUPPLES.
BRODY doubled to left center, 3 RBI; EGERTON scored; ZEBLO scored; WOODS scored. 5-0
AKERS singled through the right side, RBI; BRODY scored. 6-0
BREEN doubled to right center, RBI; AKERS scored. 7-0
MITCHELL walked.
CRAIG singled up the middle, RBI; MITCHELL advanced to second; BREEN scored. 8-0
HAMBLEN homered to right field, 3 RBI; CRAIG scored; MITCHELL scored. 11-0
WOODS singled up the middle.
ZEBLO homered to left field, 2 RBI; WOODS scored. 13-0
SKUBINA to p for YOUNG, C..
EGERTON hit by pitch (1-0).
EGERTON advanced to second on a wild pitch.
BRODY doubled to center field, RBI; EGERTON scored. 14-0 
AKERS grounded out to 2b; BRODY advanced to third.
BREEN grounded out to ss, RBI; BRODY scored. 15-0
MITCHELL homered to right field, RBI. 16-0
CRAIG doubled down the lf line.
HAMBLEN doubled to left field, RBI; CRAIG scored. 17-0 
WOODS homered to left field, 2 RBI; HAMBLEN scored. 19-0 
ZEBLO walked.
EGERTON grounded out to ss.
19 runs, 13 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.