MTSU baseball came into Thursday riding a two-game winning streak and looked to make it three against its arch-rival, Western Kentucky. Though the game was close the first seven innings, the Blue Raiders held the lead most of that time. But when the eighth inning came around, Middle fell apart and surrendered five runs on five hits and several mental errors in the field. That big inning was enough for the Hilltoppers to claim the series' opening game, 9-5.
WKU starting pitcher Jack Bennett automatically gave the Blue Raiders a baserunner to begin the night after he plunked Eston Snider on the game's first pitch. Brett Vondohlen made Bennett pay just a few batters later after he launched his 15th home run of the season, a two-run shot, to give Middle the early 2-0 lead.
Colin Kerrigan went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the frame to bring the Middle Tennessee bats back up. They continued to get after Bennett as Matt Wolfe reached on a throwing error by the Hilltopper shortstop. That was followed by a Brett Rogers double off the right field wall to put two runners in scoring position.
Hayden Miller popped out, but Cooper Clapp came up and battled hard against the WKU arm. The middle infielder drew an 11-pitch at-bat, finishing with a walk to load the bases with Snider due up.
He hit a ball to the shortstop that looked like a double play, but Snider beat out the throw to first, allowing Wolfe to score from third. Clay Badylak lined out to end the frame, but the Blue Raiders came out swinging and held a 3-0 lead going into the bottom of the second.
Kerrigan had serious command issues in the bottom of the frame, walking the bases loaded with two outs. Austin Haller delivered with a bases-clearing double to tie things up at three apiece in Bowling Green. Kerrigan would get out of the inning, but a three-run lead for Middle Tennessee had evaporated.
In the top of the third, Bennett would be pulled by WKU skipper Marc Rardin after two frames. He had trouble against Middle last season, where he surrendered nine earned runs in Murfreesboro. Then, allowed three runs on Thursday.
Patrick Morris took his spot and dominated, going 1-2-3 with a strikeout to bring his offense back up.
The 'Tops threatened in the bottom of the fourth after Thomas Marsala singled to right-center field, followed by another base knock to put two runners on. Both Hilltoppers advanced into scoring position on a balk by Kerrigan, with Joe Siervo coming to bat. He struck out, but the ball was dropped, requiring a throw to first base. Minnick made that throw just barely to end the inning and keep things tied.
Snider led off with an infield single in the top of the fifth inning, his first hit of the night. He would steal second base, but after Vondohlen struck out, MTSU had two outs in the inning. The speedy center fielder would reach third on a passed ball and then score on a Minnick double to give the Blue Raiders a 4-3 lead.
The lead was short-lived as Ryan Wideman singled up the middle in the bottom of the inning and advanced to second base on an Ethan Lizama sacrifice bunt. Wideman came around to score an at-bat later thanks to a Kyle Hayes two-out triple that bounced off the top of the right field wall, tying things again.
The Blue Raiders countered that run in the top of the sixth after Brett Rogers reached on a fielding error. He would then steal second base and advance to third on a Cooper Clapp infield single. Snider drove in Rogers on a high drive into left field that nearly left the yard but bounced off the top of the wall, giving MTSU a 5-4 lead.
Lizama flew out to begin the bottom of the eighth. Hayes followed that up with what seemed to be a deep flyout but kept carrying all the way over the center field wall to tie things for the third time of the game, this time at 5-5.
Marsala followed that up two batters later with a solo homer to give Western Kentucky its first lead of the night. Three more runs followed that in the inning as the Hilltoppers took a commanding 9-5 lead with three more outs to get.
Despite a one-out single from Badylak, the Blue Raider bats went down quietly as Western Kentucky completed the comeback to take the opening game of this series 9-5.
The Blue Raiders will be back on the diamond tomorrow for the second contest of a three-game set. First pitch is at 3 p.m., and Drew Horn is the probable starter for MTSU.
