Baseball Hosts Navy vs Red World Series

This past weekend the Belmont University Baseball team hosted their annual Bruin World Series at Rose Park.  All 3 games were decided by 2 runs or less with Red taking game 1 by a score of 4-2. Navy took game 2 by a score 4-3 before walking off game 3 in the bottom of the 9^th inning on a walk off wld pitch to win the Bruin World Series by a score of 3-2. 

GM 1

Navy struck first in game 1 on a Nicholas Stinson ground out to score Isaac VanderWoude. Charlie Davis would have the response for Red by hitting a triple to right center field to start the bottom half of the inning before scoring on a Landon Godsey single through the six hole. A Michael Lareau single in the 2^nd would allow Navy to retake the lead. Gardner Lawrence would hit a 2 out single up the middle that would give the Red team the lead that they would not relinquish despite the strong pitching of Zane Brown and Andrew Perry. Gardner Lawrence put the finishing touches on the game with a sacrifice bunt to make the final score 4-2. The game was dominated on the Red sign by the arms of Owen Cavey and Zach Hernandez.

GM 2

Navy got out to a hot start scoring 4 runs in the first two innings behind an RBI ground out by Michael Lareau in the first to score Isaac VanderWoude and a Brody Langlotz double in the 2^nd to score Noah Burnham and VanderWoude again. Lareau would cap the scoring for Navy with a single to score Langlotz in the same inning. The Red team would rally with a Kyle Coleman RBI Double (his second of the game) before he was knocked in by a Brady Holbrook sacrifice bunt. In the final frame after coming inches away from tying the game with a home run, Gardner Lawrence would have to settle with an RBI double scoring Coleman but to cut the lead to one before Hank Liss slammed the door with 2 strikeouts and a caught stealing by catcher Noah Burnham. The Navy pitching staff of Ridge Harvey, Aubrey Moraitakis and Hank Liss contributed to the tough win.

GM 3

Pitching was the name of the game in game 3 with a combined 5 hits total between the two teams. Isaac VanderWoude got things started by scoring on a wild pitch that came on a Michael Lareau strikeout swing. Gardner Lawrence stayed hot in the next frame for the Red team hitting a double and then scoring on an error on a Brady Holbrook sacrifice bunt attempt. Holbrook would score on a Charlie Davis stolen base to put Red in the lead. Navy would final break through again in the bottom of the 8^th inning thanks to a Michael Lareau double and a Dean Spoto sacrifice fly before winning the game in the 9^th inning with Noah Burnham scoring on a wild pitch following his walk and then an Isaac VanderWoude sacrifice bunt giving Navy team the 3-2 win. 

Major takeaways:

• The major takeaways from the Bruins World Series that ultimately led to the wins in each of the games were:
• The baserunning from both teams putting major pressure on the defense and pitching staff.
• The manufacturing of runs, each team found ways to score despite very strong efforts from the pitching staffs.
• The abilities of the pitching staffs to limit "big innings". There were only 2 instances of more than 1 run being scored in any given inning.