By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Eye-popping, offensive performances, some stellar pitching, and timely defense were all key factors for the Tennessee Tech baseball team on day one of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament, as the Golden Eagles (29-25), earned not one, but two victories Wednesday at Wild Health Field to advance to the double-elimination portion of the league event.
A complete showing all around easily propelled the purple and gold past Murray State in the team's first contest of the team, with the No. 6 seeded Golden Eagles cruising to a 9-2 win over the No. 7 Racers. Tech returned to action in the evening, out-slugging No. 3 seeded Morehead State in an instant classic, 11-9.
Attempting to pick a storyline on the day for the Cookeville crew is a lot like trying to stop the Golden Eagles from hitting home runs, darn near impossible. The Tech squad crushed seven on the day, as well as 10 doubles, all part of a whopping 32 total hits.
The offense got to work early on the day and never seemed to stop humming, with third baseman Gabe Lacy starting things for Tech in the first against Murray State. After lacing a double to left-center field, right fielder Ryan Guardino drove in the first marker of the day with an RBI double off the wall in right field.
In the third, the Golden Eagles increased the lead to three, with left fielder Jason Hinchman sending a sacrifice fly to left-center field. Another Guardino double, this one off the wall in left-center field, led to another run, as Lacy scored on a fielding error to make it a 3-0 game.
Murray State finally got on the board in the fourth, using a sac fly to right-center field to make its mark. Tech was quick to respond, with center fielder Austin Turner poking an RBI single to center field for a 4-1 lead.
Tech kept working in the fifth, with Hinchman fouling off three straight pitches before depositing a ball clear over the old video board in left-center field for his 23rd home run of the season. It would mark just a small part of a ridiculous day at the plate for the senior. Later in the frame, catcher Will Long turned in an RBI single to left-center field.
A lead-off dinger off the bat of shortstop Ed Johnson in the sixth made it an 8-1 ballgame for the purple and gold, marking his 12th blast of the season. The Racers took one back in the seventh with another sac fly, but that would be it offensively for the squad from Murray.
Tech plated two more in the eighth for good measure, starting with an RBI, ground-rule double down the right-field line by Johnson. Hinchman drove him in two batters later with a base knock through the left side.
Golden Eagle ace Peyton Calitri (6-5) played the part, delivering his longest outing since finishing 10 innings at ETSU on Mar. 18 with seven frames of work. Picking up his sixth victory of the year, the sophomore limited the Racers to six hits and two runs while striking out six batters.
Reliever Travis Odom polished off the final two innings, allowing a pair of base knocks with a punch-out. The Tech defense helped Odom work quickly, turning double plays in both the eighth and ninth innings to close out the day and set up the evening tilt with Morehead State.
Eight Golden Eagles combined for 16 hits in the opening game with Johnson pacing the crew with a 3-for-5 display, two RBI, and three runs scored. Hinchman drove in three on a pair of knocks while five more Tech players collected multiple knocks. Tech set a program record for OVC Tournament play, totaling seven doubles to fall just one shy of the league's tournament mark of eight.
Squaring off with Morehead State for the sixth straight OVC Tournament that Tech has qualified for, the Golden Eagles continued the great rivalry with what could easily have been mistaken for a prize fight. Featuring numerous lead changes and ties the two sides combined for 27 hits and 20 total runs.
The Golden Eagles struck the first blow of the night in the second inning, with second baseman Noah Hattier blistering an RBI double down the left-field line. Turner followed with a base hit to left-center field, doubling the advantage to 2-0.
Morehead was swift with its response, tying things at 2-2 with a two-run single up the middle in the bottom of the second. Back at work in the third, Tech kept the pressure on with Hinchman gathering an infield single to shortstop to lead things off.
Following a walk to Guardino, designated hitter Luke Jones provided the blow with a huge, two-run double to right-center field. Again, the Eagles fought back, this time taking its own lead in the bottom half.
After putting the first two runners on, a would-be sacrifice bunt was thrown away by starter Connor Adams, allowing two runs to score and a runner to reach third with no outs. Brock Myers took over on the hill, gathering three quick outs, including a pair of strikeouts. The runner from third would end up scoring, however, on a ground ball, giving Morehead a 5-4 lead.
The Eagles turned to their bullpen to kick off the fourth and gathered two outs right out of the gate. After working a full count, Hinchman unloaded on the next pitch, pulverizing a solo tank off the top of the Orange Crush Zone in deep, left-center field to tie the game at 5-5. It marked his 24th round-tripper of the year, tying his previous career-best mark from 2019.
The two teams traded zeroes before Morehead collected another unearned run in the fifth to go back on top. A two-base, throwing error set the Eagles up for an RBI single later in the frame.
Not deterred, the Golden Eagles continued to hit and produced at the dish in the sixth. On the first offering of the frame, Johnson smacked a single to left field. Lacy clobbered the next pitch way over the wall in left field for a two-run bomb, his 12th of the year and the team's third of the contest.
It didn't stop there. On just the third attempt by Morehead to get the ball to its catcher in the frame, Hinchman made it back-to-back jacks with a monster moon shot to dead center field. Clearing the 16-foot wall well over 400 feet away, the slugger made it an 8-6 advantage for Tech with his 25th pump of the season.
One last time, Morehead State responded to the Golden Eagle jab in the bottom half of the sixth. After a pair of base hits, the Eagles drilled a three-run shot over the party deck in right field, elevating back on top 9-8. Following a walk, head coach Matt Bragga turned to Frankie Cresta out of the bullpen. Backstop Will Long threw out an Eagle runner trying to steal before Cresta induced a weak ground ball to end the frame. Tech wore the right cross off the chin before delivering an uppercut in the seventh.
Another pitching change for Morehead seemed to work early, with the Eagles gathering a quick strikeout to lead off the frame. Turner turned the table by drawing a six-pitch free pass. Johnson then produced the biggest swing of the night, working his own full count before blasting a two-run smash into the night sky in left field. His 13th dinger of the year gave the Golden Eagles a 10-9 lead.
For good measure, Hinchman wasted no time providing insurance two batters later, crushing the first pitch he saw from another new Morehead State arm on the mound out of the ballpark entirely in left field. From that point on, Cresta dominated on the hill, allowing just a single Eagle baserunner the rest of the way.
Picking up his first win in the purple and gold, the right-hander finished a season-high three and two-thirds frames with one strikeout and just a solo hit.
Hinchman stole the headlines on the night, tying the program's single-game record (and OVC Tournament single-game record) with three long balls, a feat he's accomplished a record three times in his career. He tied Tech's single-season home run mark of 26 set by TTU Sports Hall of Famer A.J. Kirby-Jones back in 2010 as well.
He collected his 70th career tater as well, becoming just the third Division I player in the past 20 years to reach that mark, joining ETSU's Paul Hoilman and Florida's Matt LaPorta. The senior moved into fifth on Tech's all-time career RBI list and seventh on the career runs scored list as well.
Tech's five jacks in the game tied the OVC Tournament single-game record set by the 2017 Golden Eagle squad and tied by SIUE in its first game of the 2022 event. The purple and gold again tallied 16 hits in the contest, with eight members of the team securing at least one.
No surprise, Hinchman paced the group with four hits, three RBI, and four runs scored. Johnson added three more hits, two RBI, and two runs while Lacy managed two hits and two RBI. Jones also drove in a pair with two hits.
Tech will now square off with No. 2 seeded Southeast Missouri Thursday afternoon in a 2:00 p.m. CT tilt. The loser of the match-up will play again Thursday evening in a 6:00 p.m. affair with the loser of the morning contest between No. 1 Belmont and No. 5 SIUE. The winner will play next on Friday in a 1:00 p.m. game against the victor of the Belmont-SIUE meeting.
The Golden Eagles won their season series with the Redhawks in Cookeville, earning a 10-3 win in the opener. After falling 9-4 in game two, Tech clinched the series with a 7-4 victory in the finale.
Photo by Thomas Corhern
