Featured Photo by Reggie Johnson
Story by Conner Smith
Middle Tennessee baseball dominated Tuesday behind an exceptional performance on the mound and power at the plate. Freshman pitcher Bryant Beranek was not aware he was going to start until yesterday but showed out nonetheless. He ended the day with one hit allowed, no walks, and no runs through a near perfect five innings in MTSU’s 8-3 victory over Southeast Missouri State.
“I was nervous at first, after the first inning I started to settle in and from there it took off,” Beranek said. “This is a lot different from high school, it was a surreal feeling.”
Luke Vinson got the scoring barrage started in the second inning with a single to plate JT Mabry. That was followed by a three-run third inning. DJ Wright hit a ball that just got over the left-field fence, his second in four games. Jeremiah Boyd delivered a gapper into deep right-center that put Jackson Galloway at third.
The throw, however, was way off so it allowed Galloway to score and send Boyd to third. He then scored off a sacrifice fly by JT Mabry.
DJ Wright was the story of the seventh inning when he flashed his leather by catching the throw from third base while doing the splits. He also launched a mammoth 434 foot two-run homerun, his second of the ballgame.
“My biggest thing this year has been my approach, this is the first year I’ve actually focused on it,” Wright said. “It’s been amazing to comeback from Tommy John for my senior year, I thank God. I’m just happy to be back to playing the game I love.”
SEMO did get on the board with a run in the eighth inning. Jeremiah Boyd made his presence felt again with a dead center solo shot to make it 7-1 Blue Raiders. Luke Vinson knocked a double then came all the way around to score on a wild pitch. SEMO did score two more, but it wasn’t nearly enough.
“Although we weren’t pleased with the weekend results, we thought we had played some solid ball against good teams,” MTSU head coach Jerry Meyers said. “The approach was no different tonight, we stuck to our gameplan, and it worked. Coach Kevin Nichols has been huge for unlocking these hitters’ potential. We had good players last year, but he’s made some minor tweaks to take these guys to the next level.”
The Blue Raiders are back in action with a four-game set starting Friday against St. Bonaventure.
Conner Smith is a sports reporter for MTSU Sidelines. If you have information for a story, you can contact him at cws4t@mtmail.mtsu.edu.
