By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
FLORENCE, Ala. – Yet another stellar showing by the offense propelled the Tennessee Tech baseball team to a tie with the 1970 team for its best start to a season since the 1955 campaign, as the Golden Eagles took home an 11-8 victory at North Alabama Tuesday evening. In 1955, the Cookeville crew rolled off 14 straight wins to start the year.
With the win, the purple and gold moved to 7-0 on the 2022 campaign and produced its sixth straight game scoring in double figures. The win took a rally, but once the bats got going, they were nearly impossible to stop.
North Alabama (1-4), produced the first runs of the ball game, denting home plate three times in the second inning to take a 3-0 lead. Never feeling the pressure of the deficit, the Golden Eagles mounted an immediate response to kick off the third.
Second baseman Nick Spardone opened the frame with a single and centerfield Austin Turner followed with a base knock of his own. Next up, shortstop Ed Johnson just missed tying the game with a hefty swing on a 3-1 offering. The junior smashed a double off the wall in right field, providing Tech its first run of the ball game.
Hardly getting started, left fielder Jason Hinchman put the Golden Eagles on top for good in the next at-bat. The slugger crushed the fourth pitch he saw to left field, clearing the wall for a three-run home run and 4-3 Tech lead. It marked his second of the year and the 46 of his career, putting him four away from moving into fifth on the program's career long ball list.
Next at the plate for the purple and gold, first baseman Golston Gillespie made it back-to-back jacks by hammering a 1-2 pitch to center field. He circled the bases for the second time this season, moving Tech out front 5-3. After designated hitter Ryan Guardino reached on a single, Spardone collected his second hit of the inning, driving in the team's sixth run of the frame.
In the fifth, right fielder John Dyer reached on a miscue at first base, setting up catcher Will Long for another fireworks show. The junior just missed a dinger on the first pitch he saw, sending a long shot just foul. Three pitches later, Long connected again, this time blasting a two-run bomb down the left-field line for his first round-tripper of the season.
Tech snagged another run in the sixth, with Guardino crossing the plate on a wild pitch with the bases loaded. North Alabama finally answered with a single run in the bottom half, but the Golden Eagles weren't done yet.
Third baseman Gabe Lacy kicked off the seventh frame with a base hit and advanced on a wild pitch. Guardino reached safely three batters later, thanks to another error by the Lion infield, a miscue that allowed Lacy to score and give Tech a 10-4 lead.
Dyer made it 11-4 one batter late, peppering a double to right-center field that drove in Guardino. Again, the Lions provided a response, scoring once after the seventh-inning stretch. UNA then made things interesting in the eighth, pulling within three after scoring three more times.
The Golden Eagles shut things down from there, holding off the home team to secure their first midweek victory of the year.
Senior Tyler Sylvester earned his first win of the year, tossing three and two-thirds innings out of the bullpen. The right-hander scattered a single hit and two walks while striking out three batters. Utility man Eric Newsom covered the final two frames for the Tech squad, allowing a single run on three hits and a walk while fanning a pair.
All nine Tech starters produced at least one hit in the contest, with Guardino leading the way with three base knocks and a team-high three runs scored. Hinchman drove in a game-high three runs while Long also produced a multi-RBI effort.
Next up for the Golden Eagles is a three-game homestand in the comfort of Quillen Field and Bush Stadium at the Averitt Express Baseball Complex. Tech will play host to Purdue Fort Wayne, starting with a 3:00 p.m. CT tilt Friday, Mar. 4. Games two and three will take place at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
File photo by Thomas Corhern
