Crusaders Shutout Blazers

MOBILE, Ala—The 4th-seeded William Carey University pulled out a 4-0 victory over 3rd-seeded Belhaven on day one of the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Tournament Wednesday at Stan Galle Field.

The game was a pitcher’s duel between the Crusaders’ Lance Brewer and Belhaven’s Riley Galloway, as William Carey held a tenuous 1-0 lead through 8, before tacking on 3 insurance runs in the final frame.

Brewer stranded five runners early, before settling down to allow only one base runner over the final 4 frames. The righty limited the Blazer bats to four hits while fanning 6 in a complete game effort. William Carey gave Brewer an early run when Greg Alexander singled home Michael Lewis in the 3rd to score an unearned run.

Galloway kept the Crusaders in check from there, allowing only one earned run on eight hits in 8.2 innings pitched.  Galloway sat down 13 batters in a row before a pair of 2-out singles in the 9th chased him.  Closer Kyle Medley came on with a pair on and two outs and got what would’ve been an inning-ending strikeout, but a wild pitch allowed pinch hitter Steven Moore to reach first base bringing in another run for the Crusaders    

The Crusaders capitalized on an error by third baseman Brent Hudson scoring two more runs in the ninth inning to expand the lead to 4-0.  Lewis went 3-for-5 at the plate to lead the Crusader batters. Brandon Chretien went 2-for-4 for William Carey and Chris Hartfield went 1-for-2 at the plate for Belhaven.

William Carey (36-20) advances to play the winner of LSU-Shreveport v. Spring Hill at 7:00 pm Thursday, while Belhaven (39-15) will face top seed Mobile at 3:30 Thursday.