COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- After going 10 days straight between contests over the past two weeks, the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagle baseball team will have just one practice day between a weekend sweep of Austin Peay and a non-conference battle with Middle Tennessee State (29-18/14-10 Sun Belt) on Tuesday. Gametime in Bush Stadium is 6 p.m.
Last time the two rivals met, Tech (23-21/9-5 OVC) suffered a tough 9-8 loss to the Blue Raiders in Murfreesboro on April 20.
Right-handers Matthew Shepherd and Tristan Archer kept Tech within one run through the top of the seventh inning against the Blue Raiders in that contest, but the bottom of the seventh proved devastating for the Golden Eagles.
The Blue Raiders capitalized on relievers Ryan Hopkins and Wade Bilbrey and scored four runs on four hits to make the score 10-5. A.J. Kirby-Jones stepped in to close the inning and stranded three MTSU runners on base and get the Golden Eagles into the eighth, but the damage was irreparable.
Tech combined for seven hits from six different players over the course of the game but couldn't touch Kevin Whittaker in the final innings to chip away at MTSU's lead. MTSU added another run in the bottom of the eighth to wind up with an 11-5 victory.
The Golden Eagles will look to settle the score at home this time around. Ben Burgess and Casanova Donaldson both logged on-base stats and a slugging percentage of .500 during the first meeting between the Golden Eagles and the Blue Raiders, and Donaldson was the only Tech player to record a multi-hit game in Murfreesboro.
Both players are coming off of steller performances this past weekend against APSU, and will look to carry the trend into Tuesday evening's game. They each added four RBI's and a home run to Tech's stats this weekend, and combined for seven hits, three walks and two hit-by-pitches.
Freshman right-hander Nick Price (1-0/6.67 ERA) will take the hill first for Tech, while righty Hunter Adkins (1-2/7.41 ERA) will throw for MTSU.
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