Featured photo by Ryan Loftis
Story by Conner Smith
Murfreesboro, TN- Middle Tennessee State baseball had a rough Friday night against the Bulldogs of Louisiana Tech. The Blue Raiders made a ninth-inning push, but it was not enough as they lost 18-8.
Louisiana Tech jumped on MTSU pitcher Patrick Johnson quickly as the first two batters hit safely, including a go-ahead RBI single. Johnson was able to bounce back and set down the next three batters.
MTSU bounced back in the bottom of the first with an RBI double from Jeremiah Boyd to score Brett Coker. Louisiana Tech scored another in the second to take a 2-1 lead.
The Bulldogs erupted in the third inning, scoring four runs, including a three-run home run. The Blue Raiders had runners on second and third with two outs in a key spot. Jackson Galloway delivered with a bloop single to score a run and chip away at the Bulldogs’ lead and make it 6-2.
It was all Bulldogs through five as they took a 15-2 lead. Jared Vetetoe scored on an RBI groundout in the eighth for MTSU to make it a 17-3 game.
“It’s always difficult to shift momentum,” MTSU head coach Jerry Meyers said. “It’s about being able to put a couple of zeroes up when pitching and then being able to answer. But we couldn’t get our footing on the mound. A couple of guys had some good spurts in there, but then some damage was done. It seemed like a lot of things didn’t go our way. Once the game had some separation, I thought our guys tried to have as good at-bats as they would have in a closer game. We just got off to a bad start that we couldn’t overcome.”
The Blue Raiders take the field for game two of the three-game set on Saturday at 3 p.m. C.T. Jaden Hamm is expected to get the start for MTSU.
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.
