The No. 4 ranked Belhaven University baseball team opened play at the Berry Invitational with an 11-6 victory over Berry College on Thursday afternoon in Mount Berry, Georgia. The win improves Belhaven’s record to 13-1 this season, while Berry, which received votes in the latest D3Baseball.com poll, drops to 8-4, according to school sources.
Berry took an early lead with three runs in the bottom of the first inning. After a leadoff double, Riley Uhls drove in the first run with a single. An RBI single and a double pushed the Vikings ahead 3-0. Berry added another run in the second on Uhls’ RBI single, making it 4-0. Uhls struck again in the fourth with an RBI double, extending the lead to 5-2, as Belhaven starter Cole Burton navigated traffic early.
Belhaven responded in the fourth, with a two-run double from Austin Canale and a rally in the fifth that sparked the game’s turning point. The Blazers scored five runs in the fifth inning, highlighted by back-to-back singles from Hayden Roberts and Parker Ryan, an error that loaded the bases, and a series of timely hits, including a double from Trey Smith and an RBI groundout from Canale. The rally gave Belhaven a 7-5 lead.
The Blazers continued to extend their lead in the sixth, with RBI doubles from Owen Abney and Smith, along with a sacrifice fly from Weed, pushing the score to 10-6. Relief pitcher Trey Flettrich earned the win after five key outs. Christian Corona pitched a scoreless sixth, and Sage Rivere finished with three shutout innings, limiting Berry to two hits and no runs for the rest of the game.
Belhaven added an insurance run in the ninth on an RBI single from Canale, who finished with three hits and four RBIs. Roberts and Ryan each contributed three and two hits, respectively. Weed drove in two runs and scored three times, while Smith added two hits and a double. The Blazers continue at the Berry Invitational Friday with games against SUNY Cortland at 11 a.m. CST and Marietta at 2 p.m. CST.
