By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – With history constantly rewriting itself all around the Tennessee Tech baseball program in 2018, it seems only fitting that it carries itself on to the highest level of the sport.
Former Golden Eagle hurler David Hess (2012-14) made his Major League Baseball debut Saturday afternoon, earning the starting nod for the Baltimore Orioles against the Tampa Bay Rays at Camden Yards and walking away with his first career victory.
The Tullahoma native became the first former Tennessee Tech pitcher to start a game at the Major League level, and he delivered in the same way Golden Eagle fans grew accustomed to in his time around Bush Stadium at the Averitt Express Baseball Complex.
Hess learned about the top level of hitting rather quickly, as the Rays gathered back-to-back hits through the infield after recording his first out. Trying to get ahead early in the count, the right-hander piped a four-seamer down the middle of the plate, but Matt Duffy turned on it for a three-run long ball to left center field.
What could have easily been an excuse to hang his head and surrender to the moment, Hess channeled that inner, bulldog approach that he always showed in Cookeville. After surrendering his fourth straight hit, he forced ground ball out and then retired the side with his first career strikeout.
From then on, it was all aboard the "Hess Express," as he worked five scoreless frames down the stretch in front of a choir of his family and friends sitting behind home plate. Hess was methodical over those five innings, retiring the side in order in the second and gathering two innings with 10 pitches or less.
All-in-all, Hess tossed six innings with three runs allowed while fanning three and not issuing a free pass. Making the start on three-days' rest, familiar territory for the former Tech starter who did same thing in the 2014 OVC Tournament, he finished his day at just 78 pitches, 56 of which went for strikes.
The outing, reminiscent of his time in a Golden Eagle uniform, impressed the youngster's new coach.
"It was fun to watch," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. "One of the things we've always liked about David is his moxie. He showed you a little bit there. A lot of guys would have pulled the dirt around them a little bit. But he didn't. That's one of the things we liked about giving him the opportunity."
Keeping all the emotion in was certainly a challenge, but Hess had no issue describing his life-long dream come true.
"I can't really even put it into words," Hess said. "It's just an experience that you literally dream about since you were a kid. For it to happen and to be here … it's great. It is hard to put into words, but it's definitely been everything and more that I hoped it would be."
Hess' debut wasn't the only historic Major League moment for a Tennessee Tech alum this month. Just last Friday, former Golden Eagle southpaw Adam Liberatore (2006-10) joined three other Los Angeles Dodger pitchers to record a combined no-hitter over the San Diego Padres.
It marked the second time that a Tech pitcher chipped in on a combined no-no at the Major League level, as Stephen Pryor (2010) earned the win for the Seattle Mariners in its accomplishment back on June 8, 2012.
In what marked the first Major League game played in Mexico since 1999, Liberatore took the hill in the ninth inning with a chance to make history. He promptly struck out perennial All-Star Eric Hosmer to start the frame, then forced rookie sensation Christian Villanueva to fly out to left field. He capped the Dodger's 23rd franchise no-hitter with another punch out, this time of Franchy Cordero.
The no-no marked the first in MLB history thrown outside of the United States or Canada and the first in a ballpark that is not home to a major league team.
The current Golden Eagle team will look to keep its historic season rolling with Senior Day scheduled for Sunday's Ohio Valley Conference series finale Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. CT against Eastern Kentucky.
Photos courtesy of Baltimore Orioles
