The SIU baseball team closed out its eight-game road trip with a single game against the Belmont Bruins on Tuesday evening.

Southern’s pitching was too much for Belmont (3-5) to handle as the Salukis shut out the Bruins 3-0.

The Salukis struck in the top of the first as senior shortstop Connor Kopach reached on a walk and proceeded to steal second base.

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Junior second basemen Nikola Vasic advanced Kopach to third. The first run was then plated on a sacrifice fly from junior left fielder Alex Lyon.

After two scoreless innings, senior first baseman Logan Blackfan reached first on an error and made his way to third off of a double from junior center fielder Kenton Crawford.

The two men on base made their way home on back-to-back groundouts, giving Southern a 3-0 lead after four.

Sophomore starter Brad Harrison (2-0) was too much for the Bruins. He went to pitch a complete game and shut out the opposition with a two-hitter.

Harrison finished with 11 strikeouts while only giving up a single walk in 92 pitches, dropping his ERA to 1.93. The sophomore pitched seven different one-two-three innings — the opening two innings and the last five.

Southern (3-5) will return to Carbondale to play its first three-game series of the season at Itchy Jones Stadium against Louisiana Monroe. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Friday.

Sports reporter Dillon Gilliland can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter at @DillonGilliland.

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