By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – A red-hot Middle Tennessee offense was too much for the Tennessee Tech baseball team to contain Tuesday evening, as the Golden Eagles fell to the visiting Blue Raiders at Quillen Field and Bush Stadium at the Averitt Express Baseball Complex, 13-5.
MTSU piled up 18 hits on the night to back up a pitching staff that secured 10 strikeouts in the contest. The purple and gold were held to six hits offensively, but did manage to clear the fence twice in the match-up.
The Blue Raiders kicked off the scoring in the first, producing a pair of runs with two sacrifice fly balls to the outfield. The Golden Eagles answered in the bottom half as shortstop Nick Spardone dented the dish on a wild pitch.
In the second, Middle Tennessee dropped four runs on the scoreboard, including one unearned, to move out front 6-1.
Both sides traded zeroes in the third and fourth, with Tech hurler Elvin Delic providing a spark on the mound to keep the purple and gold in the contest. The right-hander covered three and two-thirds frames without allowing a run, holding the Blue Raiders to four hits while inducing a large number of ground balls.
Tech scored a second run in the fifth on another wild pitch, but MTSU answered with a single run in the sixth. In the bottom of the frame, the Golden Eagles pulled back within a trio of runs thanks to the bat of John Dyer.
After third baseman Peyton Mills reached base safely on an error, Dyer made the next at-bat count, hammering a two-run blast to left-center field. It marked the first baseman's second long ball of the year and cut the deficit to 7-4.
Middle Tennessee blew the game open in the seventh, scoring six times, including a three-run dinger to left-center field. Mills answered in the bottom of the inning with a solo jack down the left-field line four his seventh round-tripper of the season, but that would finalize the scoring for the evening for both sides.
Six different Golden Eagles picked up hits in the contest, with Dyer leading the team with a pair of RBI. Southpaw Brock Smith turned in a scoreless inning of work in the ninth, striking out a pair. Catcher Hayden Gilliland, who finished 1-for-3, also threw out a pair of Blue Raider base runners trying to steal third in the contest.
Tech will now embark on a seven-game road stretch, beginning with a three-game trip to Davidson this weekend. The Golden Eagles will kick off the weekend slate with a 4:30 p.m. CT tilt Friday afternoon in Davidson, N.C.
Photo by Jim Dillon
