By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – It was a heartbreaker for the Tennessee Tech baseball team Sunday afternoon, as the Golden Eagles couldn't complete a remarkable rally and eventually fell to Little Rock in their Ohio Valley Conference series finale by a final score of 11-10 in 10 innings.
The Trojans (29-19, 14-6) moved into sole possession of first place in the league standings with the win, securing the weekend series over the Golden Eagles (18-30, 9-12) behind a walk-off base hit in the 10th. Little Rock kicked off the scoring on the day, plating a pair in the second inning, including one unearned run.
Tech fought back in the third, scoring four times on three hits to take its first lead of the contest. Center fielder Nicho Jordan opened the frame with a lead-off home run to right field, his seventh long ball of the season.
Shortstop Troy Baunsgard followed by drawing a four-pitch walk and left fielder Austin Turner turned in a base knock to center to continue the surge. A one-out walk to first baseman John Dyer loaded the bags, setting up catcher Hayden Gilliland for an RBI ground out to tie the game. On the next pitch, designated hitter Preston Ford ripped a two-run single up the middle put Tech on top, 4-2.
Little Rock homered to lead off the third to cut the Golden Eagle advantage in half. In the fourth, the Trojans evened the score, using a couple of base hits to set up a steal of home plate to square things at 4-4.
Neither side got much going in the fifth or sixth and Tech was held off the scoreboard for the fourth straight frame in the seventh before the home squad broke the silence. Using four hits in the bottom half, Little Rock scored four times, including a pair on a triple and two more on a long ball to right-center field.
The Golden Eagles responded immediately in the eighth, with Dyer hammering a lead-off blast to left field to cut the deficit to 8-5. The round-tripper represented the senior's 21st of the year, ranking fifth in Tech single-season history and giving the slugger 45 for his career. He now ranks in sole possession of 17th on the OVC's all-time home run chart and sixth in program history.
Gilliland made it back-to-back jacks with a solo bomb to center field, his seventh of the season. A pair of Little Rock errors allowed another Tech run to dent the dish, pulling the purple and gold within a run at 8-7. Then, Jordan struck again, crushing a two-run nuke to right field for his second dinger of the day and eighth of the season to give the visitors a 9-8 lead.
Once again, the Trojans evened the score, producing the tying run on a sacrifice fly ball in the bottom of the eighth. Neither side could get anything going in the ninth, taking the contest to extras.
In the 10th, Jordan came up clutch again, belting a solo shot to right field to give the Golden Eagles a 10-9 lead. The lefty's third tank of the contest tied the Tech program record for a single game, making him just the 12th different player in team history to record three home runs in one contest. It marked the 14th contest in school history with a trio from one player, as the OVC's all-time leader in long balls, Jason Hinchman, accomplished the feat a whopping three times.
Patience paid off for Little Rock in the bottom of the tenth, as the Trojans drew a lead-off walk and picked up a one-out base knock to put runners on the corner. A stolen base put a pair in scoring position before the home team used another sac fly to tie the ball game at 10-10.
A Golden Eagle pitching change just wasn't enough, as the Trojans picked up a base hit to drive in the winning run and take the series. Despite the loss, the Tech squad remains just one win away from clinching a spot in the OVC Tournament field for the second straight year.
On the day, Dyer continued his impressive run by recording a base hit for the 20th consecutive contest, the fourth-longest, single-season streak in school history and fifth-longest overall in program history. He became just the sixth different Golden Eagle to gather a hit in 20 straight games overall.
Baunsgard extended his reached-base streak to a whopping 45 games in a row, tying for the second-longest mark in school history with Hinchman's run to end last season. He now sits just two away from All-American David Garza's single-season record of 48 games and four from his overall mark of 50-straight contests reaching safely.
Four different Golden Eagles picked up multi-hit efforts on Sunday, led by three each from Turner and Jordan. Dyer and Gilliland both recorded a pair with one walk each. Jordan led the team with four RBI and three runs scored, as well as an impressive eight put outs in center field.
Tech will return to Cookeville to wrap up the 2023 regular season, playing host to Southern Indiana for the first time in program history in a three-game series next weekend. The final OVC week of play will kick off Thursday evening with a 6:00 p.m. CT first pitch at Quillen Field and Bush Stadium at the Averitt Express Baseball Complex.
File photo by Jim Dillon
