Box Score Redshirt senior Connor Lockwood (Libertyville, Ill. / Libertyville) went the distance and allowed no earned runs on seven hits while striking out six and walking none, but the Valparaiso University baseball ace took a tough-luck defeat in a 2-0 loss to visiting Belmont on Saturday at Emory G. Bauer Field.
 
How It Happened

• Both teams stranded a runner at third in the opening inning as a dropped pop fly on the infield helped Belmont get a runner aboard, before Thomas Cooper (Brentwood, Tenn. / / Ravenwood) doubled and stole third in the bottom half of the inning, but neither team could push across a run.
• Belmont starting pitcher Ridge Harvey left after one inning with an injury, but Zane Brown took over to begin the second and went the rest of the way.
• Neither team scored until the top of the sixth, when a two-out, two-run double by Jake Maddox made Valpo pay for a dropped pop fly earlier in the inning, putting the Bruins ahead 2-0.
• Brown retired 10 straight Beacons until Eli Riley (Zanesville, Ind. / Norwell) stroked a one-out single in the bottom of the ninth to bring the tying run to the plate. However, the next two batters flied to center and Belmont closed out the victory.

Inside the Game

• Lockwood threw his third complete game of the season, moving into a tie with Justin DeCastro (LIU), Andrew Hermann (Louisiana) and Jaden Wywoda (Holy Cross) for the national lead.
• Lockwood tossed his sixth career CG, making him one of four active players nationally with at least six and tied for second overall. Jaden Wywoda (Holy Cross) leads the Division-I nation with seven in his career followed by a tie between Lockwood, Brady Bendik (Navy) and Vincent Borghese (Rutgers).
• Lockwood became the first Valpo pitcher with three complete games in a season since Trevor Haas had three in 2016.
• Lockwood struck out six and walked none on Saturday. He scattered seven hits and both runs that crossed the plate against him were unearned in the 102-pitch outing. This season, he has racked up 47 strikeouts and issued just seven walks in 71 2/3 innings.
• Of Valpo's 12 conference losses, seven have been decided by two runs or fewer. Valpo is 0-7 in league games decided by two runs or fewer this season.
• Brown threw eight innings of shutout relief for the Bruins, striking out six and walking one while yielding two hits. There was only one combined walk in the game between the two teams.
• Cooper's double was Valpo's only extra-base knock and one of the team's three hits on the day.
• The game required only two hours, five minutes to complete all nine innings.

Up Next
The Beacons (9-29, 2-12) and Bruins will conclude the three-game series on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Emory G. Bauer Field. That game will air on ESPN+.