Photo by Devin P. Grimes / Staff Photographer
Story by Caleb Luketic / Contributing Writer
Middle Tennessee State University (16-17) overpowered their in-state rival Belmont (14-17) Tuesday night, beating the Bruins 10-4.
Both teams were locked into a pitchers duel through the first four innings, only giving up one run each. But the Blue Raiders soon blew things open with a three-run fifth inning, followed by a five-run sixth inning.
The Blue Raiders offense was dormant to begin the game, only tallying two hits through four innings. But Brad Jarreau and company would soon string together 13 hits over the following four innings.
Jarreau would finish 4-for-5 from the dish with an RBI and a run scored, tying a career-high in hits with four.
Ryan Kemp and Riley Delgado also recorded multi-hit games, going 2-for-5 and 2-for-4 respectively.
MTSU’s Will Small was able to keep Belmont at bay while the Blue Raiders’ offense got going, pitching two scoreless innings and recording his third win of the season.
Belmont tried mixing things up against MTSU by switching pitchers to try to give the Blue Raiders a different look. But nothing seemed to work work for the Bruins.
After Belmont took a 2-1 lead in the fourth, it was Jarreau who would lead the one-out rally in the fifth against the Bruins, starting the trail of three-straight singles. Aaron Aucker and Austin Dennis helped erase the Bruins early 2-1 lead as well, recording hits in that momentum-shifting fifth inning.
Middle Tennessee would continue to pour it on in the sixth inning, putting up five runs against Belmont’s mediocre bullpen. MTSU put on a hitting clinic opening the sixth inning with four-straight hits and three consecutive doubles. Aucker added to the hit-fest by blasting a three-run bomb.
MTSU returns to the diamond this Thursday at 6 p.m. when they open up a series at home against Conference USA rival UAB.
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