NASHVILLE, Tennessee — Middle Tennessee baseball (19-22, 4-11 CUSA) picked up a top 10 win on Tuesday night, downing No. 9 Vanderbilt (30-11,11-7 SEC) by a score of 5-3.
While the upset victory is certainly poignant for MTSU, the win meant a little more for Blue Raiders shortstop Matt Wolfe. Prior to calling Murfreesboro home, the redshirt sophomore spent two years as a Commodore.
“I don’t like to put price tags on any opponent we play,” Wolfe said. “This one is definitely a little more special for me. This is one of the first top 10 victories we’ve had, it was really special.”
Wolfe showed up for the Blue Raiders in his return to Charles Hawkins Field as he went 2-3 with a ground-rule double and two runs scored.
“Matt Wolfe was outstanding,” head coach Jerry Meyers said. “To do what he did, he helped us tremendously in a lot of ways. With the at-bats that he had and made the plays that were hit to him as well.”
The night started with a bang for Middle Tennessee, as Eston Snider blasted a leadoff home run to left field off of freshman Austin Nye for his fourth yard ball of the year.
Offensive production continued in the second inning for MTSU, as Wolfe scored the first of his two runs on an RBI groundout from first baseman Hayden Miller.
Wolfe and Miller teamed up to provide a run once again in the fourth. Wolfe led off the inning with a ground-rule double that bounced out of play in left-center, and Miller drove the former Commodore in with a single to left.
“I think as an offense, we just came out and weren’t scared of anything,” Wolfe said. “We’re coming out attacking. We’re going to hit the ball in front of you, and we are going to run in front of you until you get us out. And that’s kind of what we did.”
After a solo home run from left fielder Rustan Rigdon in the third, Vandy’s bats found some luck in the sixth as they pushed across two runs against reliever Cole Torbett. Catcher Mac Rose drove one run in with a single to right, and the ‘Dores third run came from a throwing error by second baseman Cooper Clapp after a sacrifice fly to right allowed Jonathan Vastine to score.
After MTSU struck early, Vanderbilt’s bullpen settled in very well against the Blue Raiders. From the fifth to seventh inning, Ethan McElvain and Austin Seibert combined for three hitless frames with seven strikeouts.
Seibert returned for the Commodores in the eighth and hit catcher Tyler Minnick to lead off the inning. With two consecutive wild pitches, Minnick found himself on third with only one out. Vandy brought the infield in, and left fielder Keaton Ray hit a high chop to second that went over the head of Mike Mancini to score Minnick. Ray advanced to third base on a single from Wolfe and scored on a wild pitch to make it 5-3 in favor of the Blue Raiders.
The score stayed there. Ethan Imbimbo silenced the Commodores to the tune of three innings of three hit balls with three strikeouts on the way to MTSU’s first top 10 win since defeating No. 5 Vanderbilt in 2016.
MTSU’s upset win came largely from the production on the mound. Bryant Beranek made the start and worked around two hits and three walks to provide four innings of one run ball.
“He had to step up and made some pitches to keep them at bay,” Meyers said. “He was fighting to find his stuff pretty well. He just kept competing and we got some outs, he gave us some length that we needed.”
Beranek worked out of multiple jams in the start, including stranding runners on second and third in the first inning.
“It was really good, getting through the first after getting into some trouble,” Meyers said. “We had scored first and wanted to have that hold up, so putting up that zero in the first was huge.”
The win looks to propel the Blue Raiders forward in their last month of Conference USA play. They head to New Mexico State (19-22, 7-8 CUSA) this weekend for a three-game set with the Aggies.
“I wish it would count as a conference game,” Meyers said. “We didn’t get the job done [in conference play]. We can’t focus on the past, but we’re going to continue to move forward.”
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