NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Following a one hour, 51 minute rain delay, it was Belmont's offense that continued to pour it on. The Bruins scored 21 times on 20 hits Thursday, defeating SIUE baseball 21-10 in the opener of a three-game Ohio Valley Conference series at Rose Park.

The Cougars have dropped three consecutive games and are now 9-14 overall and 9-4 in the OVC. Belmont improved to 15-11 overall and 7-2 in the OVC. The Bruins took over sole possession of first place with Thursday's win.

Friday's second game of the series has been moved up to a 12 noon start because of rain forecasted for later in the day.

Belmont has won three consecutive games and has scored a combined 72 runs in those games.

For SIUE Thursday marked the second consecutive game that the Cougars have allowed 20 or more runs in a game.

"We're pitching scared," SIUE Head Coach Tony Stoecklin said. "We're not attacking the strike zone. We're not attacking hitters. We're uncompetitive. We're not giving ourselves a chance to succeed."

Four pitchers pitched for SIUE in the loss. Ryan Daniels (2-4) started and allowed nine runs on 11 hits. Brendan Miller allowed five runs without recording an out in the fifth inning. Caleb Wilkerson allowed five runs in three innings. Mike Miller pitched an inning and allowed two runs. The Cougars' staff combined for eight walks and two hit batters.

"One guy feeds off the next guy," Stoecklin added. "They are all feeding off one another. It's going straight downhill."

After falling behind 3-0 after one inning, the Cougars used two hits, while taking advantage of a pair of Belmont errors, to score five times in the second inning and led 5-3. Denton Reed, Nick Lombardo, and Chase Green had RBIs in the inning.

The Bruins took the lead for good with a four-run second inning and led 7-5. The Cougars cut the Belmont lead to 8-6 with a run in the fifth on an RBI-single by Dustin Woodcock. Woodcock finished 3 for 4.

Belmont blew the game open with seven runs in the fifth inning to extend the lead to 15-6. Belmont designated hitter Nick Egli added a grand slam in the inning. Egli finished the game 5 for 6 with three doubles, the grand slam, and 11 RBIs.

Both teams scored three times in the sixth inning. Keaton Wright connected for his second home run of the year, a three-run shot, for the scoring. Wright finished 2 for 4. Skyler Geissinger added his first home run of the year in the seventh to cap the scoring for SIUE. Geissinger finished 1 for 3.  

"You score 10 runs and you have no errors, you should win 100 times out of 100," Stoecklin said. "That's how I honestly feel."