Featured photo by Ryan Loftis
Story by Conner Smith
MTSU baseball went 0-4 against the Toledo Rockets this weekend after dropping the series finale 11-7 Sunday evening at Reese Smith Jr. Field.
Toledo was once again tearing the cover off the ball; It went up 6-0 going into the bottom of the second before MTSU third baseman Gabe Jennings launched a three-run home run off the Lee Victory Wall in left field.
The scoring barrage continued as Toledo added two more runs in the fourth. The Blue Raiders responded when JT Mabry ripped a line drive two-run home run to right field.
James Sells came in to relieve Kota Sato. Sells did all he could as he hurled three scoreless innings before exiting in the eighth.
While that happened, MTSU plated two runs to make it a one-run ball game. The Rockets scored three more in the final two frames to end the Blue Raiders’ comeback.
“Even getting down six, after having that happen to us twice yesterday, getting down both games where we were still in the ball game the first four or five innings, I guess would categorize that as not responding very well,” MTSU head coach Jerry Myers said. “And today, I thought they responded, especially after you get to the bottom of the second and it’s a ‘here we go again kind of deal’. The at-bats continued to get a lot better, we got back in, and Gabe hit a big homer. We weren’t able to get the job done. We’re not happy about the result. It was a better response today, but that’s only going to do us any good if we learn from it. That’s a good hitting team, there are some older hitters there that can adjust. And obviously, we made mistakes, they didn’t miss them today. That was the difference in the ball game.”
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.