Another week of the spring semester at Middle Tennessee State University has flown by, trailed by another action-packed weekend of Blue Raider sports.

Middle Tennessee softball swept Conference USA bottom-feeder Kennesaw State, dropping the Owls to 0-12 in conference play. Meanwhile, MTSU baseball dropped a rubber match to Florida International while men’s and women’s tennis both picked up victories.

Without further delay, here’s everything that happened across Blue Raider sports over the weekend. Brett Walker

Softball dominates lowly Kennesaw State

Middle Tennessee (17-19) completed the sweep of Kennesaw State (9-27) over the weekend, winning all three games in Murfreesboro. 

MTSU began the weekend series by winning both games of its Friday double header. In the first game, the Blue Raiders found themselves down by a score of 4-1 after a big offensive inning from the Owls. 

Over the next two innings, freshman Jana Want had two RBIs to make it a one run game. Then in the bottom of the seventh inning with the bases loaded, Middle Tennessee tied it up after a single by Ava Brooks.

With the game on the line, Anyce Harvey hit a ball into the outfield for a flyout which scored Lexi Medlock for the walk off run, sealing the victory for the Blue Raiders

In its second game of the day, Middle Tennessee kept momentum, run-ruling the Owls by a score of 12-2 in six innings. Medlock and Ansley Blevins led the Blue Raiders as they combined for nine RBIs, four hits and four runs. Want accounted for three runs, and one hit while being walked three times.

On Saturday, the Blue Raiders secured the series sweep in a 5-1 victory. Brooks began the scoring for Middle Tennessee in the second inning with a solo-home run to take the lead 1-0.

In the fifth inning, Leila Ammon hit a solo home run to begin a flurry of scoring from the Blue Raiders as they took a 5-0 lead into the seventh inning. The Owls scored their only run of the day in the seventh inning off of an MTSU error.

Next up for MTSU softball, the Blue Raiders (17-19) will travel to Nashville, Tennessee to play Tennessee State University (17-19) on Wednesday, April 2 at 5 p.m. David Cassman

Men’s tennis takes down No. 44 Memphis

Coming off a 6-1 beatdown of Tulane, MTSU men’s tennis continued its solid play with a 4-3 win in Memphis against the No. 44 ranked Tigers. 

On the doubles courts, Shu Matsuoka and Igor Mandou Berranger won their match 6-4. Meanwhile, the court one duo of Karim Al-Amin and Ondrej Horak fell 3-6, leaving the doubles point in the hands of Rostislav Halfinger and Jakub Kroslak. Memphis secured the doubles point however, as Halfinger and Kroslak lost a tight 6-7 contest. 

Much like the doubles matches before, singles play was a battle.  

Berranger earned the first win for the Blue Raiders, taking down Alejandro Vizoso in straight sets, 6-1, 6-4. Memphis reclaimed the lead with a victory on court one, as Al-Amin lost to Connor Gannon 4-6, 0-6. Horak put the Blue Raiders back on top, completing a tough three-set comeback over Harry Rock 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. 

Memphis wouldn’t go away though as the Tigers picked up their own three-set win on court two, in a 3-6, 7-5, 5-7 victory by Pablo Alemany over Kroslak. Matsuoka continued the back-and-forth struggle, with yet another three-set win over Memphis’ Sam Reeve 7-6, 2-6, 6-4. Halfinger then sealed the match win for the Blue Raiders after beating Luis Carvalho 7-5, 3-6, 6-2. 

The ranked win for the Blue Raiders brings the team’s record to 11-9 on the season. Middle Tennessee will take on another ranked opponent on Friday, April 4, playing host to No. 25 South Florida at the MTSU Outdoor Tennis Center. Alex Wittke

Baseball drops series to Florida International

Middle Tennessee baseball (14-13, 2-4 CUSA) dropped two of three to Florida International (19-10, 4-2 CUSA) in the Blue Raiders’ Conference USA home opening series this weekend. 

MTSU took game one Friday night in a 12-8 slugfest. 

The Blue Raider bats jumped out of the gates on fire, as they put up eight runs within the first three innings. In this stretch, Clay Badylak hit two doubles, bringing in three runs. Nathan Brewer hit the first of two home runs on the night to drive three in as well. 

FIU crawled back into it in the fourth, pushing four runs across in the frame courtesy of three RBI singles. The Panthers were able to chase starter Trace Phillips in the fifth, leaving with a final line of 4.1 innings pitched, seven hits and four runs while punching out two. 

MTSU got a run back in the fifth with an RBI single off the bat of Brett Rogers, scoring shortstop Matt Wolfe. 

Florida International brought it to 9-7 in the sixth, after two RBIs from Alex Ulloa and one from Brylan West. 

In the sixth, seventh and eighth the Blue Raiders added runs from a Tyler Minnick RBI double, another Brewer’s home run and Eston Snider scoring off of a wild pitch.  

Ulloa added one last run in the eighth for FIU off an RBI double, but it wasn’t enough as MTSU’s Will Jenkins was able to go 3.2 innings to pick up the save in the 12-8 win. 

FIU took game two on Saturday 6-5. 

The offensive success continued early in game two for the Blue Raiders, pushing four across in the first frame. Brett Vondohlen drove in two with a double down the left field line, while Minnick scored on a wild pitch and Wolfe drove in a run on a groundout. 

The Blue Raider bats fell silent after the first inning, however, only putting up one more run in the fifth off a SAC fly from Minnick.  

FIU’s offense turned it on in the third and fourth innings against the lefty Chandler Alderman, scoring all six of their runs within those six outs. Kishon Frett put an exclamation on the Panthers’ scoring outburst, sending a long fly ball out to left field for a two-run home run, his ninth long ball of the year. 

The bullpens dominated for both sides on Saturday. Landen Burch and Collin Kerrigan combined for five innings while allowing only two hits and no runs. On the opposing side, FIU’s David Eckaus and Juan Villarreal provided 5.2 innings of one-run ball. Villarreal picked up the save after going four shutout innings.  

Two-way slugger Trace Phillips made his return to the batting lineup for the first time since Feb. 22 against Fairleigh Dickinson. Phillips went 2-3 with two singles and a walk. 

FIU dominated game three, picking up a 9-5 win to take the series. 

Sunday’s game seemed to be a pitcher’s duel early, as MTSU’s Cole Torbett and FIU’s Owen Puk both got through three innings scoreless. 

The Panther bats broke through against Torbett in the fourth, with a home run from Ulloa and an RBI single from Javier Crespo. FIU added solo home runs in the fifth and sixth from Cole Cleveland and West, along with an RBI single from Cleveland in the sixth. 

Puk was able to dominate MTSU’s offense for five innings, allowing only one hit while striking out eight. 

A sixth inning, three-run home run from Vondohlen provided the first runs of the day for the Blue Raiders against reliever Jarek Woodward. Keaton Ray and Hayden Miller added RBIs in the inning to bring it to 6-5.  

FIU struck right back in the seventh though, putting up a three spot. Andrew Ildefonso, Crespo and Austin Dearing each picked up an RBI for the Panthers.  

West added a run for FIU in the ninth, scoring on a passed ball to push it to 10-5. 

Middle Tennessee hosts Lipscomb (11-15) for a mid-week game on April 1, before traveling to Lynchburg, Virginia to take on Liberty (19-10, 2-4) in a conference series April 4-6. Willie Phaler

Women’s tennis sweeps CUSA weekend at home

Middle Tennessee women’s tennis extended its home winning streak with two wins over Conference USA opponents in Kennesaw State and Jacksonville State this weekend. 

While the Blue Raiders failed to secure double points in both contests, they came back to take the victory in each. 

On Friday, Kennesaw State opened the match by taking the double point. MTSU’s Sara Conde and Eloise Swarbrick, along with Rutuja Chaphalkar and Lena Peyer lost their matches by a count of 6-4 to give the Owls the opening point.  

Despite the Blue Raiders failing to pick up the opening point for only the fifth time this season, they promptly responded. 

Peyer led the charge claiming the first singles point of the match with straight set win sets over Sofia Madrid, 6-3, 6-0. Following Peyer’s ninth victory of the season, Chaphalkar won her match in straight sets over Kennesaw State’s Laura Nadaska, 6-3, 6-3 to give Middle Tennessee a 2-1 lead. 

Down for the first time in the contest, the Owls quickly responded. Emma Baraniakova defeated MTSU’s IIaria Sposetti to tie the game. On courts three and four, both teams split to keep the match tied. Kennesaw’s Sophia Unger would win court three and MTSU’s Cassidy Mataia would win court four. 

With the game tied 3-3 all, it came down to court six: Zenn Lim vs Terezia Baraniakova. The players split sets, leaving the final match the deciding factor and ultimately, Lim delivered for Middle Tennessee taking the victory 6-1, 3-6, 6-4, and securing the 4-3 win for the Blue Raiders.  

On Saturday, against Jacksonville State, the doubles point went in favor of the road team once again, as the Gamecocks duos prevailed over Conde and Swarbrick and Chalphalkar and Peyer.  

Despite the early deficit, the Blue Raiders once again responded, and in fuller force, exploding with three straight points. MTSU’s Mataia started the fire, claiming the first singles match point with straight set wins over Polina Ramenskaja 6-3, 6-2 and extending her winning streak to seven.  

Shortly after, MTSU’s Peyer (0-6, 6-3, 6-0) and Sposetti (6-2, 7-5) rattled off wins to give the Blue Raiders a 3-1 lead.  

Despite the Gamecocks’ Zuzana Pavelekova defeating Conde on court four to bring the game to 3-2, it wouldn’t be enough to stage a comeback. 

Once again, Lim rose to the occasion, claiming straight sets wins over Ella Tuomela, 6-2, 6-2, to give MTSU the 4-2 victory. 

The pair of wins pushed the Blue Raiders to 14-6 on the season. The team will return to action on April 8 at home in a double header against UT Southern and Western Kentucky. Gary Davis

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