Tuscaloosa, Ala. – Opening Day has come and gone; now it’s time for some midweek baseball. MTSU took the four-hour bus ride to T-Town for a Tuesday showdown against the Alabama Crimson Tide. The Blue Raiders were overwhelmed by the Bama bats from the start and were never able to score enough runs to catch up, as Middle Tennessee was mercy-ruled in eight innings, 12-2.
“I felt like we made some quality pitches, and it wasn’t like we were scattering the zone. We tried to keep it down in the zone and on the corners a little too much, and against a team like that, you leverage it into their favor,” says MTSU head coach Jerry Meyers. “Good hitters got into more leverage counts. After the first inning or two, you know if the zone is low or high, or if they’re [umpire] going to give us a little bit, you have to work around that. We didn’t do a good enough job of that.”
Alabama was all over MTSU starter Will Jenkins in the first inning, collecting two hits, a walk, and a hit by pitch, but was only able to plate one run before the Blue Raider defense helped Jenkins get out of the inning.
Once again, in the second inning, Jenkins would allow the bases to be loaded with two outs and somehow got out of the inning with no damage. Middle Tennessee would not be so lucky the next time out, as Cole Torbett came into the game to pitch and allowed four runs, giving Bama the quick 5-0 lead.
The Blue Raiders finally got on the board in the fourth inning when Tyler Minnick led off with a standup double followed by a Brett Vondohlen single. Hayden Miller came to the plate and delivered a one-out infield single to score Minnick and threaten for more. Alabama starting pitcher JT Blackwood hit a batter to load the bases, with Clay Badylak due up. The nine-hole hitter fought back and forth but struck out to end the inning, leaving three runners stranded.
Bama got the run back quickly as Will Hodo took MTSU reliever Bryant Beranek deep on the third pitch of the fourth inning, reclaiming its five-run lead. Beranek would later be pulled for Colin Kerrigan, who got All-SEC shortstop Justin Lebron to a 3-2 count but surrendered a two-run single to push the lead to 8-1.
Blackwood would be pulled for Tyler Fay after a solid midweek start, tossing four innings and giving up one run. Eston Snider would reach on an error to start the fifth, but Fay locked in and recorded three consecutive outs to end the threat.
Kerrigan was pulled for Ollie Akens in the sixth inning after he walked two straight to begin the frame. Overall, he walked three batters through 1 1/3 innings, and the Blue Raiders would walk 10 total in the contest as they could not find the strike zone.
Akens kept the Crimson Tide from adding to its lead by retiring three consecutive batters, two by the strikeout.
The next inning, Matt Wolfe started with a hard-hit leadoff single before redshirt sophomore Kenny McKinley mashed his first collegiate hit, a double, to put two runners on. Eston Snider would ground out the next at-bat but would score Wolfe from third to plate the second Blue Raider run of the game before Trace Phillips struck out and Tyler Minnick lined out to end the frame.
MTSU would use a pair of arms who gave up three more runs in the seventh before Jonny Stevens came in and ended the inning on three pitches, striking out Richie Bonomolo Jr.
The Blue Raiders had an opportunity to get a few runs back in the eighth when Brett Vondohlen walked, and a pitch hit Keaton Ray. Wolfe came to the plate looking to collect his second hit of the night and drive in a run but was struck out looking on the payoff pitch.
Stevens returned for the bottom of the inning and struck him out before facing Lebron. The two battled hard for seven pitches but on the final one, the Alabama superstar got the better of Stevens, sending it over the wall to end the game in a mercy rule through eight innings, 12-2.
“They [Alabama] have good quality arms, and we have to battle. I think this is a competitive bunch for sure, but you’ve got to execute and adjust when you need and have to,” says Meyers.”
The Blue Raiders will be back in action this Friday when they start a weekend series against Fairleigh Dickinson. First pitch is at 3 p.m., and Trace Phillips is the probable starter on the mound.
