Middle Tennessee baseball (12-12, 2-4 CUSA) dropped its weekend series to Missouri State (14-7, 5-1 CUSA), in two close games and a run-rule loss.
Game 1
The game started out on a high note for the Blue Raiders, as they tagged Missouri State’s Jason Schaaf for three runs on six hits in two innings of work.
Nathan Brewer started the scoring for MTSU, driving in two runs on a double, giving the Blue Raiders an early lead.
However, Middle Tennessee was unable to keep offensive momentum, tallying just one run on two hits in the final six innings.
“The pitcher that came in [for Missouri State] was giving us a little bit of problems,” Brett Vondohlen said on WGNS radio. “We tried to make adjustments, sometimes it just doesn’t go your way.”
The Blue Raiders led until the eighth inning, as Missouri State pieced together three runs in the bottom half of the inning, all coming with two outs as the Bears had done all night, to take the game 6-4.
Game 2
It was more of the same from Friday’s game, as the offense tagged Bears’ Owen Slater for three runs on five hits in the first two innings.
Owen Nowak continued his hot start to the season, going 3-for-3 at the plate.
Brett Rogers continued his hitting streak, as his RBI single in the third inning secured a hit for the 16th time in the last 17 games.
It was a rough outing for Drew Horn, as Missouri State chased him from the game in two innings, tagging him with eight earned runs, including the first four batters recording hits.
Gavin King came in to relieve Horn, but the bats stayed hot for Missouri State, tagging King for six runs over 2 1/3 innings.
“We’re trying to do a lot of things, whether they are small things, we’re trying to understand our personnel in live situations,” head coach Jerry Meyers said.
The Blue Raiders did not score in the top of the seventh, forcing the run– rule to come into effect, as MTSU fell 14-4.
Game 3
Middle Tennessee fell 10-9 in a slugfest in the series finale, dropping their fourth consecutive game.
The game started with fireworks, as both offenses combined for 10 runs in the first two innings, with the Blue Raiders leading 6-4, capped off by a Vondohlen two-run double and a Dean O’Neill 3-run homer.
The pitching staff struggled to contain the Missouri State bats, as David Horn Jr. surrendered seven total runs in four innings of work, before handing the ball to Landen Burch, who finished the final four innings, allowing three runs on six hits.
“We did a lot of good things, there’s a lot of things we understand we got to get better at,” Meyers said.
The offense continued its early momentum throughout the game, as Brewer and Layne Akers each notched solo home runs in the fifth inning. Brewer extended his hitting streak to eight games.
The Blue Raiders will travel to Alabama A&M University (7-19) for a midweek game on Tuesday at 1:00 p.m. CDT, before returning home to take on New Mexico State University (11-12) for a weekend series, set to begin on Friday at 6:00 p.m. CDT.
