Featured photo by Ryan Loftis
Story by Conner Smith
Houston, TX- Middle Tennessee State baseball saw its season end Saturday in the semifinals of the Conference USA Tournament as it lost to the Charlotte 49ers 9-8.
Charlotte took an early 5-0 lead entering the third inning but the Blue Raiders plated two runs courtesy of a DJ Wright double and a Jeremiah Boyd single. Charlotte did get a run back in the bottom of the frame.
The 49ers added a pair of runs to their lead in the fifth to take a commanding 8-2 lead. In the sixth inning, Briggs Rutter drove in a run on an RBI groundout for the second out of the frame.
MT plated four more runs in the inning, capped off by an Eston Snider three-run home run that cut Charlotte’s lead to just one. Snider came back up in the eighth and hit a solo shot to tie the game 8-8 .
The Miners returned the favor and scored one in the bottom of the inning to retake the lead. MTSU could not plate a run in the ninth and dropped the final game of the season 9-8.
“Today’s game was another example of the character this team had all year. They just continued to fight and play the game of baseball the right way. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that,” MTSU head coach Jerry Meyers said. “The players did everything we asked them to do. We had good senior leadership and some young guys that grew up. I appreciated the effort these kids gave because they gave it every single day. Guys wanted to get better and move the program in a positive direction.”
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.
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