By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee Tech baseball team makes its way back to Cookeville and the comfort of Quillen Field and Bush Stadium at the Averitt Express Baseball Complex to host Davidson in a three-game series.
The weekend will kick off Saturday afternoon with a doubleheader against the visiting Wildcats, with first pitch slated for 1:00 p.m. CT in game one. The second contest of the day will begin approximately 30 minutes following the conclusion of the first game. Sunday's series finale will open at 1:00 p.m.
All three contests are scheduled to be streamed live on ESPN+ with Dylan Vazzano on the call. Admission to all Tech home baseball games is free of charge.
Saturday's first match-up marks the fifth between the two programs, with Davidson owning a 3-1 lead in the series. Tech won the first-ever contest against the Wildcats, a 12-5 decision in Savannah, Ga. Last year, Davidson swept a three-game set at its home ballpark, including back-to-back walk-off wins in the final two games of the weekend.
The Golden Eagles have become quite familiar with walk-off endings, with each of their last four tilts ending via a walk-off hit. Tech took a pair of walk-off wins to end its series last weekend with Queens University of Charlotte.
Junior Tanner Shiver delivered both walk-off knocks on his way to his first career Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Week honors, announced by the league on Monday. Playing both third base and right field, the Maryville, Tenn. native slashed .471/.550/1.118 while piling up three home runs, a triple, six runs, eight RBI, and a stolen base.
The script was flipped with the purple and gold taking to the road for a two-game midweek series at USC Upstate, as the Spartans smacked a pair of walk-off home runs to claim victories of 7-5 and 8-7 on Tuesday and Thursday.
Davidson won its last two contests after kicking off last weekend with a pair of losses to Brown, 16-13 and 6-4 in seven innings. The Wildcats salvaged a victory against Brown in the second game of Sunday's double dip, winning 12-5. They followed it up with a 7-1 triumph at NC A&T on Tuesday.
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Current Midweek Schedule
Saturday, Mar. 16 | 1:00 p.m. CT | vs. Davidson
Saturday, Mar. 16 | 4:00 p.m. CT | vs. Davidson
Sunday, Mar. 17 | 1:00 p.m. CT | vs. Davidson
TENNESSEE TECH GOLDEN EAGLES
2024 Record: 10-7
2024 OVC Record: 0-0
Head Coach: Matt Bragga
TTU: 507-460-2 (18th Season)
Career: 558-536-3 (21st Season)
STATS LEADERS
AVG: Hayden Gilliland (.387)
2B: Troy Baunsgard (8)
3B: Austin Turner (3)
HR: Preston Steele (7)
RBI: Preston Steele (24)
R: Troy Baunsgard (22)
BB: Austin Turner (23)
SLG%: Tanner Shiver (.700)
OB%: Hayden Gilliland (.525)
SB: Austin Turner (10)
ERA: Peyton Calitri (2.59)*
W: Peyton Calitri / Juan Vargas (2)
APP: Jack Erdman / Jaxson Pease (6)
IP: Peyton Calitri (24.1)
K: Peyton Calitri (23)
BAA: Peyton Calitri (.211)*
SV: Jack Erdman (2)
* minimum 1.0 innings pitcher per team game played
DAVIDSON WILDCATS
2024 Record: 6-10
2024 A-10 Record: 0-0
Head Coach: Rucker Taylor
DC: 148-96 (6th Season)
Career: Same
STATS LEADERS
AVG: Eli Putnam (.379)
2B: Eli Putnam (5)
3B: Jed Howard (1)
HR: 3 players tied (4)
RBI: Michael O'Shaughnessy (21)
R: Jacob Friend (18)
BB: Jacob Friend (19)
SLG%: Eli Putnam (.379)
OB%: Jacob Friend (.551)
SB: Jacob Friend (3)
ERA: Wilson Perkins (6.05)*
W: Wilson Perkins (2)
APP: Isaac Fix (7)
IP: Wilson Perkins (19.1)
K: Cooper Cavanaugh (26)
BAA: Cooper Cavanaugh (.246)*
SV: Jason Ban (1)
* minimum 1.0 innings pitcher per team game played
Photo by Jim Dillon
