NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Gardner-Webb travels to face Belmont this weekend in a key A-Sun series, and leads the nation with 83 stolen bases heading into Friday's opener in the Music City.

The Diamond 'Dogs (12-17, 2-4 A-Sun) captured two of three games against Lipscomb at home last weekend to get back on track in league play, but face a tall task against a Belmont team that has lost just five times in 17 home games at Greer Stadium - famous for its guitar-shaped scoreboard as home to the AAA Nashville Sounds.

Belmont comes into the game at 4-2 in league play, and boasts a pair of hard-throwing right handers in Charles Lee and Ben Moffitt. Both pitchers' fastballs work in the 88-90 mph range, and each sports a 3-1 ledger coming into the weekend. Game three starter, southpaw Carlo Testa, held GWU to just one run last season in Boiling Springs, and has a 3-0 record so far this season.

Gardner-Webb is expected to counter with senior righty Matt Tafazzoli and regular rotation men Taylor Brooks and Ben Campbell.

Offensively, GWU has relied on its running game for much of its offense this season, stealing a school-record 83 bases already in 104 attempts. Both of those numbers lead the nation at the Division I level according to statistics compiled at boydsworld.com. Official NCAA statistics will begin in early-mid April.

After struggling at the plate early in the season, Gardner-Webb's bats have begun to shake out of their February slumber. Despite batting just .278 on the season to date, GWU has been better over its last 15 games - batting .309 with 12 home runs and 103 runs scored during that span, to go with 41 stolen bases.

The Bulldogs' hottest hitter of late has been shortstop Josh Drewery, who has raised his average by nearly 40 points in the past month, and is batting .327 with 17 RBI. Jamall Kinard, who has moved from the middle of the Bulldogs' order to the leadoff spot, paces the team with 19 steals on the year to go with his .324 batting average and team-high 23 walks.

Sophomores Matt Rizzuto (.316, 3 HR, team-high 21 RBI), Jay McConnell (.313, 4 HR, 15 RBI) and Daniel Cooke (.299, 2 HR, 12 RBI) have also been strong of late at the dish.

The outfield trio of Cooke (16 steals), Kinard (19 steals) and Jon Ahearn (13 steals) has accounted for 58 percent of the team's total stolen bases this season, but are far from the lone threats on the GWU roster. Rizzuto (eight steals), Brock Miller (six steals) and even first-baseman Jeremiah Lokken (six steals) are nearing double digits this season.

Last season marked the previous high water mark for stolen bases at GWU, when a young team stole 69 bases in 56 games. At its current pace, Gardner-Webb would steal 161 bases by the end of this regular season.

Kinard, Cooke and Ahearn are each on pace to break the school's individual steals record for a season - which is currently held by Frank Cauthen (30 steals, 1974).