By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – A five-game road stretch awaits the Tennessee Tech baseball team, with the Golden Eagles kicking off the action away from Cookeville with an in-state match-up at Middle Tennessee Tuesday evening.

The Golden Eagles (12-18) will face off against the Blue Raiders (17-13) for the first of two times this season, with first pitch set for a 6 p.m. CT start. Following the midweek battle, Tech will visit Jacksonville State in Jacksonville, Ala. over the weekend and then travel to North Carolina for a midweek tilt with Western Carolina the following Wednesday.

Fans can view the contest on goblueraiders.com or follow live stats on the same website.

SERIES INFO
Dates: Apr. 7, 2015
Times: 6 PM CT
Location: Murfreesboro, Tenn.
Stadium: Reese Smith Jr. Field
Radio: None
TV: None

SERIES HISTORY
Overall: UNCA leads, 11-6
Bragga vs: 2-4
First Meeting: Unknown
Last Meeting: March 24, 2015

MULTIMEDIA
Live Stats: Tuesday
Audio: None
Video: goblueraiders.com
Twitter Updates: @TNTech_Baseball

TENNESSEE TECH GOLDEN EAGLES
2015 Record: 12-18
2015 OVC Record: 6-9 (8th)
Head Coach: Matt Bragga
Career: 307-324-2 (12^th season)
TTU: 307-324-2 (12^th season)

STAT LEADERS
AVG: Dylan Bosheers (.343)
2B: Ryan Flick/Jordan Hopkins (10)
HR: Bosheers/Flick (5)
RBI: Flick (33)
SB: Bosheers/Matt Cunningham/Anthony El Chibani (3)

MIDDLE TENNESSEE BLUE RAIDERS
2015 Record: 0-21
2015 OVC Record: 0-9 (11th)
Head Coach: Jimmy Schmitz
Career: 684-706-1 (28th season)
EIU: 520-545-1 (21st season)

STAT LEADERS
AVG: Ronnie Jebavy (.371)
2B: Austin Bryant/Jake Ingold (8)
HR: Jared Allen (7)
RBI: Allen (27)
SB: Jebavy (15)

FRESHMAN FOCUS
Freshman Ryan Flick, Tech's designated hitter, has been a huge boon to the offense all season long. Number 11 leads the Golden Eagles with 33 RBI on the year (which also ranks in the top five in the OVC), thanks to a slugging percentage of .519 and 15 extra base hits. He is tied for the team-lead with five home runs.

Fellow freshman Chase Chambers ranks fifth on the TTU squad with a .279 average. He has drawn a team-high 17 walks and tallied a .452 slugging percentage and .400 on base percentage this season. The first baseman also ranks third on the squad with 20 RBI.

DOWN MAYBE, BUT NEVER OUT
If there's been anything to learn about this year's version of the Golden Eagles, it's that you can knock them down, but don't you dare count them out. In 29 games this season, Tech has mounted five come-from-behind victories when trailing in the fifth inning or later.

In the second game of the year, the Golden Eagles headed into the bottom of the ninth, trailing 7-2 to a feisty Longwood squad. Six runs later, Tech walked off with its first victory of the year. A week later, the squad found itself trailing to a dangerous Davidson team in the fifth by two runs. Tech tied it in the bottom half before the flood gates opened up with an eight-run sixth for a 12-5 win.

Morehead State mounted its own rally, taking a two-run lead in the top of the sixth while looking for a series sweep. Two quick runs in the bottom half of the frame led to an exhilarating 9-8, walk-off W for the Golden Eagles in the ninth.

In Nashville, the Golden Eagles looked sure to be done in the fifth, trailing in-state rival Lipscomb by six runs with two outs in the bottom of the fifth. The Golden Eagles proved they don't care, dropping a seven-spot to take the lead for good in an unreal 12-8 victory.

The series-opener against Eastern Illinois saw the Panthers take a 6-4 lead into the fifth inning before the Tech squad tied things up in the bottom half. The Golden Eagles scored three more times in the sixth and then held off a seventh-inning rally to take down EIU 9-7.

MR. 300
With a 14-2 win over Northern Illinois on Feb. 28, head coach Matt Bragga earned his 300th career victory, just the second coach in program history to accomplish the feat. He currently ranks second to Hall of Fame coach David Mays in total wins.

Photo by Sean Setters