Middle Tennessee Baseball (13-12; 2-1 CUSA) beat Alabama A&M (7-20) 10-2 in an unusual one o’clock start in Huntsville, Alabama.
Towing the slab for the Blue Raiders was senior right-hander Bryant Beranek, who bounced back after his worst outing of the season against Murray State, which saw him give up four runs in 3 2/3 innings.
MTSU wasted no time getting on the board as Dean O’Neill drove in Owen Nowak from second with a single up the middle. The Blue Raider catcher led the team offensively, going 3-for-5 with three RBIs, including a home run.
“I felt right at home,” said MTSU catcher Dean O’Neill. “The quote-on-quote circumstances is something I’m all used to. The venues I used to play at in the conference I used to play in were quite similar to this so… I was able to make an adjustment.”
After a scoreless second, the raiders plated two more in the third. First baseman Tyler Minnick hit an RBI double that scored Brett Rogers. Minnick then scored off of another single by O’Neill.
Rogers was another Blue Raider to have a good day at the plate as the right fielder went 2-for-4 with two walks.
Beranek had his best start of the season as he pitched five strong innings for the Blue Raiders, letting up five hits while striking out two. Beranek earned the first win of his senior season and lowered his ERA to a stellar 1.96 on the year.
“He [Beranek] looked great,” said O’Neill. “Whenever he had a bad miss, he’d be right back to it; he’d be able to make an adjustment. He was consistent throughout the entire day… all of his starts have looked really good, I’m glad we were able to get this one for him.”
John Michael Pickens came out of the Middle Tennessee bullpen and pitched three scoreless innings.
MTSU scored two more in the seventh. First, Layne Akers worked a bases-loaded walk, and then a wild pitch scored Nathan Brewer to make it 8-0 in favor of the Blue Raiders.
After a scoreless eighth inning, O’Neill went deep to lead off the ninth, his eighth home run of the year.
After Brewer walked and Brett Vondohlen doubled to left, Akers lined an RBI single to center field, which scored Brewer. Vonholden came home on an RBI groundout to make it 10-0 Blue Raiders.
The Bulldogs would score two in the bottom of the frame off Mason Dobbs, but it wasn’t nearly enough as the Blue Raisers cruised to a 10-2 victory over Alabama A&M, advancing back over .500 to 13-12.
Meyers was named manager of Middle Tennessee Baseball in May of 2023, after serving as the Blue Raiders’ pitching coach and associate head coach the year prior.
He led the Blue Raiders to the Conference USA tournament in 2023, where they beat both the University of Texas at San Antonio and Louisiana Tech before falling in the semifinals to the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
As the No. 7 seed, MTSU was the lowest-seeded team to reach the semifinals since Rice University in 2019.
“I’ve spent zero time thinking about that,” Meyers said. “It’s just a number… I’m fortunate to have stayed in College Baseball for over 30 years at the places that I’ve been and head coach just a portion of those years. I appreciate the opportunity to have the position to try to lead these guys, only number I care about wins was going 1-0 today and we were able to do that.”
MTSU baseball’s next series is this weekend against New Mexico State, as they look to bounce back in conference play.
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