By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – After delivering back-to-back, walk-off victories to end its series with Queens University of Charlotte over the weekend, the Tennessee Tech baseball team found itself on the other end of the stick Tuesday afternoon, falling at USC Upstate, 7-5, via a ninth-inning home run.
Deadlocked at 5-5 headed into the ninth inning, the Golden Eagles (10-6) put together a little two-out rally attempt, loading the bags with a chance to take the lead and put the pressure on the home team. The Spartans (10-7) picked up a huge strikeout to end the threat and put the game in the hands of their bats.
Tech gathered two quick outs in the bottom half before issuing a free pass to bring USC Upstate first baseman Grant Sherrod to the plate. The redshirt senior delivered the big blow, smashing a 1-1 offering to left field for a two-run, walk-off dinger.
Freshman hurler Eli Huddleston produced a solid 5.0 innings of work on the mound for the purple and gold, surrendering just one earned and three total runs on four hits and three walks. He racked up five strikeouts in the affair as well.
The Spartans loaded the bases right out of the gate in the first with a base hit, a fielding error, and a hit-by-pitch. A free pass drove in the first run of the game before the Golden Eagles traded a second, unearned run for a 4-6-3 double play.
The Golden Eagles answered right back in the top of the second, with a throwing error by USC Upstate allowing reigning Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Week Tanner Shiver to reach safely with one out. Shortstop Preston Steele followed by promptly crushing a two-run blast to left field to tie the game, his team-leading seventh long ball of the year.
The Cookeville crew backed up its first display of offense with some more in the third, starting with a one-out walk to left fielder Austin Turner. The senior stole second base, his team-best 10th of the season, to become the first Golden Eagle since 2021 to hit the double-digit mark.
A groundout sent him to third before catcher Hayden Gilliland provided some more fireworks for purple and gold. The senior backstop unloaded on a 2-1 pitch for another two-run jack, this one down the right-field line for a 4-2 lead. It marked Gilliland's second of the year and 19th of his career, putting him just one away from cracking Tech's top-25 list.
In the fifth, the Spartans took one run back with a solo shot to left-center field. The home squad then took the lead in the sixth, using a wild pitch to plate the tying marker and a sacrifice fly to left-center for the go-ahead run.
With two outs in the top of the eighth, the Golden Eagles turned in a two-out rally to even the contest one last time, with Shiver lacing a base knock to left-center field. A pitching change didn't work so well for USC Upstate, as a wild pitch allowed Shiver to take second base. Steele then poked a single to right field, plating Shiver from second for his third RBI of the day.
Game two of the midweek series is set to kick off at 3:00 p.m. CT at Cleveland S. Harley Park on Wednesday afternoon before the Golden Eagles return to Cookeville to host Davidson in a three-game weekend series.
File photo by Jim Dillon
