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Belmont Baseball
CHARLESTON, Ill. – Eastern Illinois baseball aims to bounce back from a season-opening sweep in Louisiana with a trip to the heart of Ohio Valley Conference country for a nonconference series at Belmont this weekend.
The three-game set in Nashville, Tenn., is slated to feature three day games. Friday's opener is set for a 3 p.m. first pitch and the single games Saturday and Sunday are scheduled to get underway at 1 p.m. The weekend weather forecast calls for clear skies and temperatures in the mid-40s.
The Panthers (0-3) are making their first trip to the Music City since the opening weekend of the 2007 spring break trip. Even though the OVC is centered round Nashville, EIU baseball rarely visits the league's marquee destination because Tennessee State does not the sport.
The 2007 EIU-Belmont series featured three one-run games. The Bruins won two-of-three thanks to walk-off victories in the opener and rubber game.
Richie Derbak is the only active Panther that saw action in the series. He was 5-for-12 with two doubles and three RBIs.
The 2007 series was played at Greer Stadium, home of the Milwaukee Brewers' Triple-A affiliate Nashville Sounds. This season Belmont (3-0) is playing all of its home game at Shebly Park on Nashville's East Side. The Bruins opened their season with a three-game sweep of Evansville at home last weekend.
Eastern is expected to face a left-handed starting pitcher for the first time this season Saturday. Belmont's Chase Brookshire, a freshman lefty, is projected to start the middle game of the series. He worked the finale last weekend against Evansville, striking out seven over six innings, but has moved up one spot in the rotation.
“I think facing some lefties early is very good,” EIU head coach
Jim Schmitz said. “Sometimes we don't get them early on and then see a bunch of them in conference play. We're not going to switch up the lineup.
[Zach] Borenstein and Derbak handled lefties well last season.
[Daniel] Rowe has to hold his own against them because I don't see a platoon at that position. It'll be good to see how we react.”
Nate Woods got the season-opening start for the Bruins last weekend and gave up only four hits over eight innings. However, he won't pitch until Sunday, if at all, this weekend against EIU. Woods was also the starting first baseman in all three games against Evansville.
Eastern pitchers will be looking to cut down on free passes. The 11 Panthers that took the mound last weekend at Southeastern Louisiana teamed up to issue 25 walks and hit seven batters.
Scott Foley, who worked a one-two-three ninth inning in the series finale in his first appearance since the 2009 spring break trip, was the only pitcher that did not issue a free pass.
“We talked about this it this week, being tentative versus aggressive,” Schmitz said. “Some of the tentativeness is a result of having a whole new infield (from last year) and a lot of new pitchers. Regardless, you just can't play this game tentative. If we throw strikes, command the zone and don't win, I'm still excited about the aggressiveness. So we need to be more aggressive and that was a big topic of discussion.”
Eastern should also expect the Bruins to be aggressive on the base paths. Belmont was a perfect 11-of-11 in stealing bases last weekend against Evansville, with seven different players registering at least one steal. Center fielder Dylan Craig, the 2009 Atlantic Sun Conference Freshman of the Year, accounted for three stolen bases. He finished the series 6-for-16, five hits coming in the middle game of the set.
The Panthers were able to cut down four of 10 would-be basestealers at SELU last weekend.
Gerik Wallsten threw out three runners and lefthanded reliever
Brian Hannig also picked off a runner.
Belmont is scheduled to play EIU's OVC rivals Murray State, Tennessee Tech, Austin Peay and UT Martin for midweek action later this season.
Probable Pitching Matchups
