By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
JACKSON, Tenn. – A roller coaster ride from start to finish ended on a down slope for the Tennessee Tech baseball team Thursday afternoon, as the No. 6 seeded Belmont Bruins (32-26) edged the No. 5 Golden Eagles (31-24) in a heartbreaker, 9-8, at the Ballpark at Jackson in the first elimination game of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament.
The one-run loss, which marked the second such outcome for the Tech ball club in the league's postseason, likely means the end of a strong season for the Golden Eagle squad, which would need an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament to keep playing in 2016.
It was a barn burner of a ball game that took place barely less than 14 hours after the conclusion of Tech's first contest in the tournament, the complete opposite of the pitcher's duel the Golden Eagles waged against Morehead State Wednesday, a 12-inning, walk-off loss to the Eagles.
Belmont jumped on the board early with a solo run in the top of the first, but the Golden Eagle offense, which struggled in the first contest of the tournament, came alive right away courtesy of sophomore Chase Chambers. A leadoff single by Alex Junior and follow up single two batters later from freshman sensation Kevin Strohschein set up Chambers for some early fireworks. The slugger watched two pitches miss before clobbering a three-run shot to left field for the 3-1 Tech lead.
The Bruins jumped right back in the top of the second, tying things up with a two-spot before retaking the lead in the third with another solo marker. Once again, the Golden Eagles used the long ball to make their own case.
In the bottom of the third, Strohschein kept his dream, OVC co-Player of the Year winning season rolling by blasting a two-run shot over the wall in right field, recapturing the lead for the Golden Eagles at 5-4.
Two unanswered runs in each of the fourth and fifth frames gave Belmont what seemed to be a strong, three run advantage as the Bruin offense showed no signs of slowing down. That quickly came to a halt with the appearance of senior Kyle Godwin on the hill for the Tech squad.
After closing out the fifth frame for the final out, Godwin blanked Belmont on the scoreboard over the next three innings, giving his own offense a chance at making a run at a comeback. And that just what the Golden Eagles did.
Needing a spark, sophomore Trevor Putzig, whose nickname "Sparky" could not have been appropriate for the moment, jumped on the first pitch of the bottom of the seventh inning for a solo bombzini to left center field.
Two batters later, Junior coaxed a walk on eight pitches, forcing a pitching change by the Belmont bullpen. Tech didn't flinch, however, as senior Jake Farr and Strohschein collected back-to-back singles, with the latter driving in Putzig to cut the deficit to just a single run. With Farr on third base after the Strohschein base hit, junior Chris Brown had little trouble driving in the game-tying run with a ground ball out to second base.
With the game knotted at 8-8 entering the ninth inning, it seemed almost like destiny that the Golden Eagles would head to extras for the second straight game. The thought would turn out to be just that, however, as the Bruins plated a single run to take a 9-8 lead, despite a brilliant, defensive effort from Putzig on a diving snag on a fouled off bunt attempt earlier in the frame.
Tech showed some life with two in the bottom half, as Farr chopped a single up the middle to keep the Golden Eagle season alive for at least one more batter. Strohschein followed that up with a ripped single through the left side. A grounder up the middle off the bat of Brown appeared to have a chance to sneak through the infield, but a nice play by second baseman Hunter Holland to flip the ball to second base for the force out proved to be enough to put a cap on the season for the Tech crew.
A year that saw him finish third in single season program history with 73 RBI and the top 10 in several other categories, Strohschein put together a brilliant contest, going 4-for-5 with two runs scored and three RBI. Chambers tallied two hits in four at bats, also driving in three. Brown and Putzig each collected RBI as well.
Godwin took an absolute tough-luck loss after tossing four and one third innings of masterful relief. The senior scattered four hits, including one on a bloop, popped up bunt, while allowing just one earned run and striking out five.
Photo by Tony Marable
