NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Freshman Nate Wood’s (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) fourth home run of the season and sophomore Packy Elkins’ (Raleigh, N.C.) three hits weren’t enough to lift Belmont as the Bruins dropped its contest against Austin Peay, 10-7, at Raymond C. Hand Park in Clarksville, Tenn. on Tuesday evening.

The loss drops Belmont to 12-23 overall while Austin Peay improves to 16-18.

Freshman Dane Swinehart (Lancaster, Ohio) pitched 2.2 innings for Belmont and gave up five runs and seven hits in the loss. He (2-2) had two strikeouts in the contest.

Jason Stoermer (2-0) earned the win for Austin Peay after going five full innings and giving up three runs, two earned, and two hits with two strikeouts. Daniel Tenholder pitched the final inning for the Governors to earn his fifth save of the season.

The Governors started the scoring in the boom of the first inning with a sacrifice fly to center field by Tyler Farrar which scored Rafael Hill.

Belmont responded with three runs in the top of the second inning to take the 3-1 lead. The first two runs came courtesy of consecutive bases-loaded walks to freshmen Vinny Casha (Nashville, Tenn.) and Derek Hamblen (Plano, Texas) which drove in junior Derek Wiley (Dublin, Calif.) and sophomore Daniel Wagner (China Grove, N.C.). The other run came on a single to left field by sophomore Packy Elkins (Raleigh, N.C.) which scored freshman Bryan Taylor (Centertown, Ky.).

Austin Peay scored two runs in the bottom of the second to tie the score at 3-3.

The Governors took the lead, 4-3, in the bottom of the third inning with a double to left field by Daniel Baggett which scored Will Hogue.

Austin Peay increased its lead in the bottom of the fourth inning with four runs to make the score 8-3 in favor of the Governors.

Belmont mounted its comeback in the top of the fifth inning with two runs on a double to right field by Wagner which scored junior Carlo Testa (Tallmadge, Ohio) and Elkins.

Austin Peay plated two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning before Belmont was able to score one run each in the top of the seventh and eighth innings. One of those runs came courtesy of a solo home run to left field by Woods.

Freshman Tyler Graskowitz (Hudson, Wisc.) pitched the final four innings for Belmont and retired the last 10 batters that he faced.

Junior Brian Kelley started the game for Belmont and went 1.1 innings and gave up three runs and four hits in the no decision.

Jeff Lykins was the starter for Austin Peay and also went 1.1 innings for his no decision which included three runs, two hits and five walks.
Elkins and Taylor each extended their career-high hitting streaks to nine games.

The Bruins will return to action against the University of the Cumberlands on Apr. 16 at Shelby Park in Nashville, Tenn. starting at 6 p.m.