NASHVILLE, Tenn.—Belmont junior right-hander Nate Woods limited visiting Evansville to just five runs (four earned) on four base hits over eight innings of work on Friday, as the Bruins posted an 8-6 victory over the Purple Aces at Shelby Park in Nashville, Tennessee in the collegiate baseball season-opener for both teams.

 

Evansville jumped on Woods early for two runs in the first inning on a walk, a one-out double by junior first baseman Cody Fick, an RBI ground-out by junior outfielder Greg Wallace and an RBI single by sophomore third baseman Trentt Copeland. Woods (1-0) would quickly settle down, though, allowing just a single and a hit batsman over the next six innings to keep Evansville at bay.

 

Belmont would answer back with single runs in the first and second innings to tie the score at 2-2, before taking the lead for good with a pair of runs in the third inning. The Bruins would tack on an unearned run in the fifth inning to build a 5-2 lead, before an RBI double by second baseman Derek Hamblen and a two-out RBI hit by outfielder Tim Egerton in the seventh inning moved the lead to 7-2.

 

Evansville would respond with three runs in the top of the eighth inning on a run-scoring balk, a sacrifice fly by Fick and an RBI ground out by Wallace to trim the Belmont lead to 7-5, before the teams would trade solo home runs to provide the final margin of victory. Junior second baseman Ryan Oesterle provided UE’s home run with a solo shot in the ninth inning.

 

“For today being our first game outside, I saw a lot of positive things today,” said UE head coach Wes Carroll. “We did a good job of taking care of the baseball for the most part, and I thought that we competed well.

 

“The real difference was that we were just not able to get that shut-down inning today when we scored. In the first, we scored two runs, but then gave up a run in the bottom half of the inning. The same was true in the eighth when we scored three runs, we gave up the home run. But, all-in-all, I was very pleased with a lot of the things that I saw today, and this was a good starting point for us.”

 

Four Belmont players had two-hit efforts, as the Bruins pounded out 11 base hits off of three UE pitchers, including starter Tom Heithoff (0-1). Evansville collected five hits overall on the day, with Fick (double) and Oesterle (home run) both providing extra-base hits.

 

With the victory, Belmont opens the 2010 season with a 1-0 record. Evansville, meanwhile, drops to 0-1 overall. The two teams will conclude the short two-day series on Saturday with a doubleheader set for noon. Junior Zach Taylor and senior Keegan Dennis are expected to get the starts for UE on the mound in the Saturday doubleheader.