Murfreesboro, Tenn. – It’s been tough sledding lately for Middle Tennessee baseball, which came into Sunday with a seven-game losing streak. However, left-handed starting pitcher Chandler Alderman delivered a sensational performance and a few clutch hits that propelled the Blue Raiders to a hard-earned 4-3 victory to avoid the sweep.
“It was a good job all the way around. Every game, you feel like you need it [a win], but we probably felt like we needed that one a little bit more to get the monkey off our backs,” says MTSU head coach Jerry Meyers. “That was a very good club, and we made no mistakes. To get the job done in another one-run game today was a challenge, but it was good moving forward.”
Alderman tossed a 1-2-3 frame with a strikeout in the top of the first. The Blue Raider bats came up in the bottom of the inning and immediately did damage. Clay Badylak singled to shallow left field before Tyler Minnick drew a two-out walk with Keaton Ray coming up to the dish.
Ray delivered with a double to right-center field that drove in a pair of runs to give Middle Tennessee an early lead. That lead didn’t last long as Bulldogs catcher Eli Berch launched a two-run home run over the right field wall to tie things at two apiece. But Alderman would strike out Thaxton Berch to end the frame and give him the 100th punch out of his collegiate career.
Louisiana Tech made things interesting after Sebastian Mexico laid down a perfect bunt single in the fourth. Garrison Berkley followed that up with a single to Ray in left field, placing runners at the corners with one out. However, the Blue Raiders turned a double play the next at-bat to keep the contest tied at two apiece heading into the bottom of the fourth inning.
Matt Wolfe began the frame with a single to left-center field, followed by a Hayden Miller double to put runners at the corners with one out. Brett Rogers grounded out to first base for the second out, but it would score a run to give the Blue Raiders a 3-2 lead.
LA Tech countered the next half inning with a double down the right-field line by Berch, but due to an error at second base, Berch came into a score for a little league home run. Alderman issued a one-out walk, but a diving play in center by Eston Snider and a thrown-out Bulldog would end the threat.
Minnick broke the tie in the sixth with a 343-foot homer over the left-field wall, putting the Blue Raiders up 4-3. Middle would threaten for more after Ray walked on a 3-2 count, but a punch out and then a strike-‘em-out, throw-‘em-out double play ended the inning.
Although he was up to 100 pitches thrown, Alderman went back out for the seventh and eighth and dominated, only allowing one base runner and posting two scoreless frames.
The left-handed hurler returned for the ninth inning and tossed a 1-2-3 frame with a pair of strikeouts. His 130-pitch, nine-inning game propelled Middle Tennessee to a 4-3 victory, snapping a seven-game losing streak.
“It felt great. I just went out and trusted my stuff. I started the season off trying to do too much, but today, I went back to last year and said, I’m just going to go throw,” said Alderman.
Middle Tennessee will get Monday off before heading to Nashville for a midweek matchup against the Belmont Bruins. First pitch is at 4 p.m. from E.S. Rose Park.
