NASHVILLE, Tennessee — Early damage on the mound and a stalled offense sent Middle Tennessee baseball (22–23, 9–12 CUSA) to a 9–1 loss against Vanderbilt University (27–19, 10–11 SEC) in a midweek matchup at Hawkins Field.
A year ago, the Blue Raiders shocked the baseball world with a 5-3 win over the No. 9-ranked Commodores. A year later, a decisive loss paints a much different story for MTSU.
“We got behind and made it tough, gave them some cushion,” MTSU head coach Jerry Meyers said. “ … and they’re [Vanderbilt] too good to allow that.”
Three home runs from three separate VU batters in the first four innings proved insurmountable for a struggling Blue Raiders lineup paired with early pitching woes.
Abel Albarran got the nod on the mound for the Blue Raiders. The junior arm struggled in his fourth start of the season against a potent Commodore batting lineup. In two innings of work, Albarran allowed six earned runs while striking out one batter.
“He [Albarran] was able to get some outs, but he’s got into a couple of jams that ended up burning us a little bit,” Meyers said. “We weren’t able to escape a couple of those two-out jams that we were in.”
Ryker Waite started the hitting for Vanderbilt with a single into right field, followed by a double by Mike Mancini, scoring Waite.
After the first score at the top of the first, another run off a Colin Barcazi sacrificial flyout pushed the Commodores’ lead to 2-0 after one inning. Vanderbilt’s offense struck again in the bottom of the second as a solo-shot home run by Tommy Goodin pushed VU’s lead to 3-0 after two.
With the momentum swinging in favor of the Commodores, Middle Tennessee shortstop Clay Badylak notched the lone score of the outing for MTSU off a home run into right field to cut Vanderbilt’s lead to 3-1.
“Honestly, I was just hoping it didn’t hit the wall,” Badylak said, smiling. “Off the bat, I didn’t think it had a chance, but as it kept carrying, I thought, ‘Man, this might actually get out.’”
Despite the long ball, Vanderbilt’s lineup continued to shell the Blue Raiders’ pitching staff with two home runs, scoring two runs off each long ball in the third and fourth innings.
After a three-run blast in the fourth, the bats quieted for both sides, as both pitching staffs held firm over the final five innings.
“You just try to play good competition and play as well as you can,” Meyers said. “We didn’t do enough of that tonight.”
Following the midweek loss, the Blue Raiders return to the diamond May 1-3 for a weekend edition of the 100 Miles of Hate rivalry as the Western Kentucky University Hilltoppers (24-21, 9-12 CUSA) travel to Reese Smith Jr. Field. First pitch on Friday in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, is set for 6 p.m. CDT.
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