Murfreesboro, Tenn. – Coming off a deflating three-game sweep to New Mexico State, the Blue Raiders of Middle Tennessee needed to get back on track quickly to make the CUSA Tournament. They would start by facing the Jax State Gamecocks. MTSU got solid work out of their starter, Chandler Alderman, and four runs from his offense. Heading into the top of the ninth, they led 4-3, but a solo shot tied things up. However, the Blue Raiders stayed focused and walked it off 5-4 in 10 innings.
“At this point of the season, you hope you’ve been through enough all the way around. Eston [Snider] came in right after they tied it up and said, ‘keep playing baseball, keep playing baseball,’ he said it loud and about six times,” says MTSU head coach Jerry Meyers. “That’s exactly what you’ve got to do; just keep playing baseball. I thought some guys showed character all the way around, especially after we came up empty in the bottom of the ninth.”
Alderman ran into trouble after retiring the first two batters in the top of the first. Cooper Blauser drew a walk, followed by a single up the middle to put runners at the corners with two outs. Alderman’s pitch count quickly rose with two Gamecocks on base, but he forced a lineout to second base, ending the frame.
Snider led off the bottom of the inning with a five-pitch walk; then Clay Badylak was hit by a pitch. Brett Vondohlen came up two batters later and drew a walk to load the bases with one out and Keaton Ray coming to the plate. He grounded to the shortstop, who flipped to second, but after a throwing error, Ray was safe at first base, and two runs scored.
Matt Wolfe stepped into the box, looking to extend the Middle Tennessee lead. The middle infielder crushed a ball deep into the right field, which kept carrying. It bounced off the top of the wall and back into the field of play. Another run scored on Wolfe’s triple, putting the Blue Raiders up 3-0.
Caleb Johnson led off the top of the third with a single through the left side of the infield, then stole second base two batters later. Johnson went for his second swiped bag of the inning and was ruled safe at third base on a questionable call. Meyers would come out to argue it, but the umpires would keep it the same. Johnson would then come into score on a sacrifice fly in the next at-bat. Alderman would eventually get out of the inning after he struck out Carson Hornung to keep MTSU’s 3-1 lead intact.
The Middle Tennessee starting pitcher quickly put two outs on the board in the top of the fifth but could not get out of the frame unscathed. Grayson Ashe launched a ball off the top of the “Lee Victory Wall” in left field to cut the Blue Raider lead to 3-2. The MTSU bats went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the frame to end the inning.
Déjà vu happened the next inning as Alderman forced a quick out to begin the inning but surrendered a solo home run to tie things at three apiece.
Tyler Minnick and Vondohlen recorded outs in the bottom of the sixth, and it seemed the Blue Raider bats would go 1-2-3 for the third time in the last four innings. That was until Ray came up to the plate and mashed a ball over the right field wall that went 405 feet, reclaiming the Middle Tennessee lead.
“It feels like a boulder just got lifted off my head. It was awesome hitting the home run. It’s been a frustrating season, but I’ve been feeling good lately,” Ray said.
Following that inning, Alderman would be pulled for Cole Torbett after the MTSU starter tossed six innings while allowing three runs and fanning three. The new hurler would get into a jam, surrendering back-to-back walks with one out, but his defense helped him out with a double play to end the threat.
Both offenses went cold over the next few frames, and the game entered the top of the ninth with the Blue Raiders leading 4-3.
Torbett retired the first batter, and it looked like it would be a quick 1-2-3 frame. However, Cooper Blauser launched a solo home run over the left field wall, the third of the game for Jax State. The Blue Raiders would get two more outs to end the frame, but the Gamecocks had tied things again. Middle Tennessee would go 1-2-3 in the bottom of the ninth, giving us free baseball at Reese Smith Jr Field.
Torbett came out for his fourth inning of work, and despite giving up a two-out single, he forced a groundout to bring the MT bats back up to try and walk it off. Brett Rogers started the Blue Raiders with a leadoff double that bounced just fair and into the left-field corner.
Hayden Miller drew a walk, and after a Cooper Clapp sacrifice bunt, the Gamecocks intentionally walked Snider to bring up Badylak. It took the Senior from Ohio no time to make an impact, as he collected an RBI single on the first pitch to walk it off 5-4 in 10 innings.
“I just wanted to get [the at-bat] over with on the first pitch if it was a good one. I was trying to hit it hard because I didn’t think they would double me off if I hit it hard on the ground,” Badylak said.
The Blue Raiders return to the diamond tomorrow for the second game of the series against the Jacksonville State Gamecocks. First pitch is at 3 p.m., and Colin Kerrigan is the likely starting pitcher.
