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Bryce Brentz Has An April To Remember

(With the end of the year fast approaching, we’re counting down some of the top moments from the 2009 college baseball season.  We’ll have one a day through New Year’s Eve.)

Bryce Brentz was having a good season doing double duty as an outfielder and pitcher heading into last April, but

Bryce Brentz

during college baseball’s dog days he had achieved Zeus like status.  In 20 April games in the Blue Raider’s line up Brentz his .694 (50 for 72) with 9 home runs, 28 RBIs, 24 Runs, and 8 doubles.

Brentz homered in four straight and 4 out of 6 games in one stretch vs. Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Louisiana-Monroe, and Mississippi State.   The sophomore is a Knoxville, TN native, and the only game in which he failed to homer in that stretch was in his home town vs. the Volunteers.

The 6’0 also made four starts during the month, the best of which was an 8 inning effort with 9 strikeouts against just one walk in a 13-3 win over Sun Belt Conference rival ULM.  Brentz finished the season with a modest 5-3 record and 4.57 ERA, but consider this:  In his four starts as MTSU’s #1 pitcher Brentz struckout a combined 21 opposing batters. In 230 at-bats in the 2009 season Brentz fanned just 32 times himself while leading the nation with 28 home runs.

By season’s end Brentz had put-up just sick numbers.  He led MTSU with a .465 batting average, 28 home runs, and 73 RBIs with a .930 slugging percentage and .535 on-base percentage for a 1.465 OPS.

Brentz tied for the NCAA lead with 28 HR in '09.

His HR total tied with Alabama’s Kent Matthes for the NCAA lead, his slg % was tops in the nation by 68 points over the next closest hitter, and his OBP ranked fourth among individual batters.

Collegebaseball360.com Editor, Sean Stires, talked to Brentz just after his spectacular month of April.  CLICK HERE to listen to that exclusive podcast interview.

Brentz’s efforts helped Middle Tennessee State win the 2009 Sun Belt Conference Tournament and a trip to the Louisville NCAA Regional.

He played for the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team over the summer with the likes of Florida State’s Tyler Holt, Michael Choice of UT Arlington, Yasmani Grandal of Miami, and Christian Colon from Cal State Fullerton.

Other Top Moments Of 2009

15.  Clemson’s Kyle Parker Does Double Duty

16.  #1 Arkansas Beats #1 Arizona State

17.  Rhode Island Beats Miami And Oklahoma State

18.  Kansas State’s A.J. Morris beats Arizona State’s Mike Leake

19.  North Carolina’s Mike Fox Wins His 1,000th Game

20.  Illinois Shocks #1 LSU In Baton Rouge

21.  Alabama’s Kent Matthes Launches Longballs

22.  Freshman Levi Michael Starts In North Carolina’s Season Opener

23.  LSU Opens The New Alex Box Stadium

24.  Oregon Brings Back Baseball

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Bruins Will Play 21 Of Their First 25 Games At Home

Belmont Head Coach David Jarvis

Shelby Park. It is the third time in four years that Belmont has faced a Missouri Valley Conference opponent to open the season. In last season’s home opener Belmont won two-of-three games against Illinois State, and in 2007 the Bruins opened up with two wins over Bradley.

Complete 2010 Belmont Schedule (PDF)

REGIONAL MATCHUPS
Belmont will trade home games with six area teams – Western Kentucky, Murray State, MTSU, Tennessee Tech, UT-Martin, and Austin Peay – which will make up a majority of the Bruins’ non-conference slate. The regional matchups begin at home with WKU (42-20) on Feb. 24. The Hilltoppers earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history after sharing the Sun Belt regular season title. Belmont will travel to WKU on April 7, to fulfill the two-game series.

OHIO VALLEY OPPPONENTS
Eleven of Belmont’s 28 non-conference games will be against teams from the Ohio Valley Conference, beginning with a three-game series against Eastern Illinois (36-14) from Feb. 26-28. After facing the 2009 regular season champions, the Bruins will travel to Murray State (34-21-1) on March 2 for the first of 21 road games during the season.

Belmont’s OVC tour resumes on March 23 when the Bruins host 2009 tournament champion Tennessee Tech (31-24-1) in Shelby Park. Senior Day is schedule for May 18 against Tennessee-Martin (20-31) – the last home game of the season. The Austin Peay series will take place on the road on April 20 and at home on the 28th.

SEC
Belmont will play two Southeastern Conference teams with Vanderbilt (37-27) on April 6 at Hawkins Field in Nashville, and Tennessee (26-29) on April 27 in Knoxville.

NEW BEGINNINGS
Belmont will face three new opponents in 2010 including Cleveland State, Eastern Michigan and Evansville. All games will be played at Shelby Park with Evansville opening the season on Feb. 19, Eastern Michigan (25-35) playing three games in two days from March 5-6, and a mid-week bout with Cleveland State (21-31) March 16 and 17.

The Bruins’ first substantial road trip will be a nine-game swing including a stop in Arkansas to play Arkansas-Little Rock for the first time since 1998.

CONFERENCE MATCHUPS
The Bruins open the conference season on the road against reigning Atlantic Sun Tournament Champion Jacksonville (37-22) on March 12. The Dolphins eliminated Belmont en route to their fourth A-Sun title and sixth berth in the NCAA Tournament.

The Bruins will play 27 conference games, three less than last season’s A-Sun slate which the Bruins finished with an even 15-15 record. All conference series are three games as most will occur over the span of two days, except Lipscomb and Florida Gulf Coast. ETSU is the lone conference member that the Bruins will not play in the regular season.

The baseball edition of the Battle of the Boulevard between arch-rival Lipscomb will be held in Shelby Park from March 19-21.

Belmont will conclude the regular season on road against Mercer on May 20 and 21.

The 2010 Atlantic Sun Championship will be held in Nashville at Lipscomb’s Dugan Field from May 25-29.

SHELBY IS HOME
Shelby Park will field all of Belmont’s 32 home games in 2009, ending nearly two decades of hosting teams at Greer Stadium – the home of the Nashville Sounds, Class AAA affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers.