Following four singles, an opposite field home run and one walk, redshirt freshman Brett Rogers led the way in a 14-9 win as Middle Tennessee (15-13, 2-4 CUSA) took down in-state opponent Lipscomb (11-16, 5-4 ASUN.)
On Tuesday night, Rogers became the eleventh player in program history to record five hits in a game.
“He was big for us tonight,” head coach Jerry Meyers said. “If he didn’t do what he did, it would have been a lot closer game.”
In a career night, Rogers provided for the MTSU offense in a multitude of ways. With five hits in five at-bats, a walk, a stolen base and three scored runs, the right fielder was involved with seven of the Blue Raiders’ 14 runs.
“I just felt relaxed tonight,” Rogers said. “I don’t know what it was. The balls falling for me, I was getting lucky.”
Rogers’ career night comes on the heels of a lineup change. The lefty has been bumped from the bottom third of the lineup to the two-hole in place of Clay Badylak.
“That’s where I hit in the fall,” Rogers said. “I was kind of just comfortable there. That’s where I hit in high school.”
The dose of familiarity set Rogers’s bat ablaze early, as he recorded four hits in the first four innings. This included an opposite-field home run to the left off the Lee Victory Wall that drove in two runners and extended MTSU’s early lead to 6-2 over the Bison in the second inning.
“We always work on backside with two-k’s (strikes),” Rogers said. “That guy [Lipscomb pitcher Cameron Guise] had a little bit of sink to his ball and lived on the outer half. So, I just tried to go with it and that angle was right and the ball flew out.”
In his first season coming off of a redshirt year, Rogers has shined. The right fielder now sits with a .429 batting average, with two home runs and 13 RBIs this season.
“That was a consistent five at-bats,” Meyers said. “He’s laying off some pitches that he was not letting go before. When he gets to where he lays off the balls out of the zone, he can go five for five.”
The historic performance from Rogers was just a small part of what he’s capable of, Meyers said.
“He’s had some flashes of what he did tonight,” Meyers said. “He works his butt off. He’s a super athlete and he’s turned into more and more of a baseball player the longer he’s been here.”
Rogers’ five RBIs, paired with four from Brett Vondohlen, three from Matt Wolfe and one from Eston Snider, carried the offense in a night that Meyers characterized as lackluster from the pitching staff.
“Tonight was a night that we needed that, because we really didn’t pitch well enough,” Meyers said.
The duo of Landen Burch and the first man out of the bullpen, Bryant Beranek, carried the Blue Raider pitching staff. Burch went 3.1 innings, allowing two runs while walking four to pair with Beranek’s 3.2 innings of work allowing five runs (three earned.) Ethan Imbimbo and Collin Kerrigan handled the eighth and ninth innings, with 1.2 innings and 0.1 innings respectively.
Middle Tennessee will travel to Lynchburg, Virginia, to take on Conference USA opponent Liberty (19-11, 2-4 CUSA,) for a weekend series as the Blue Raiders look to make up for lost ground early in the conference slate.
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