Middle Tennesee State University Athletics
Saturday, February 20
Murfreesboro, TN
2:00 PM
Middle Tennessee
1-1
3
vs
2
Indiana
1-1
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
R
H
E
Indiana
1
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
2
4
1
Middle Tennessee
0
0
0
0
2
0
0
0
0
0
1
3
10
3
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Puckett, Cody (1-0)
L: Kelzer,Jake (0-1)
Batting:
2B: Butler, Tony 1 ; Cangelosi,Austin 1
RBI: Butler, Tony 1 ; Dedelow,Craig 1
SH: Butler, Tony 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Eustace, Laren 2
CS: Miller, Luke 1
HBP: Eustace, Laren 1 ; Butler, Tony 1 ; Sowers,Logan 1 ; Cangelosi,Austin 1
PO: Cangelosi,Austin 1
Batting:
2B: Delgado, Riley 1
RBI: Sullivan, Kevin 1 ; Vesser, Chaz 1
SH: Vesser, Chaz 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Dennis, Austin 2 ; King, Kaleb 1
HBP: Delgado, Riley 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
R
0
H
2
RBI
0
AB
5
R
2
H
2
RBI
0
AB
5
R
0
H
2
RBI
0
AB
5
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
OF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ BaseballIF
/ BaseballIF
/ BaseballLHP/1B
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
LHP
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
IF/C
/ BaseballIF
/ Baseball
LHP
/ BaseballMT Sweeps on Saturday, Wins Series Against IU
2/20/2016 11:05:00 PM | Baseball
Two Extra Inning Walk-Offs Fall the Raiders' Way
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – Back-to-back walk-off wins in extra innings made for a long day at Reese Smith, Jr. Field, but Middle Tennessee came away with a doubleheader sweep and a series win against Big 10 power Indiana on Saturday.
"I'm extermely proud of how we came out and battled the entire day after last night, as bad as it was," head coach Jim McGuire said. "I didn't sleep very much after that performance, but we came out and the mission of the day was to compete one inning at a time."
Tyler Troutt started the day off for the Blue Raiders, throwing 5-1/3 strong innings in game one of the doubleheader. The senior southpaw allowed three hits and two runs, one of which was unearned, while striking out three Indiana batters.
Indiana's first batter of the game reached base on an error and was able to move to second on the play. After a sac bunt moved the runner to third, a single up the middle allowed the first run of the game to cross the plate unearned.
Troutt cruised through the next few innings but it wasn't until the fifth inning that the Blue Raider offense came alive. Freshman Austin Dennis led off the inning with a single to right center. Austin Sistrunk followed that with a single of his own before Kaleb King moved Dennis to third on a fielder's choice.
Vesser then laid down a bunt and the Raiders executed the squeeze play to perfection to allow Dennis to tie up the game. A hit by pitch followed by a walk pushed King across the plate to give the Blue Raiders a 2-1 lead before the Hoosiers got out of the inning with a double play.
After a walk and a double tied the game up, Troutt got a lineout to second before making way for senior Garrett Ring. The righty pitched three innings for the Raiders while allowing only one hit and striking out four to get Middle Tennessee into the ninth still tied at two.
Middle collected a couple of hits in both the seventh and eighth innings but failed to capitalize before Ring's day ended and Cody Puckett's began, soon moving into extra innings.
Puckett threw 2-2/3 innings of hitless baseball before the bottom half of the 11th rolled around.
"He [Puckett] is unbelievably big for us," McGuire added. "Having that left-hander to come out of the bullpen is going to be big. Puckett has had some ups and downs. He was hurt and missed most of the fall so he's behind as far as repitition goes, but he's got good stuff."
Dennis got the Raiders going with a one-out single before Sistrunk moved him to third on a single to center.
King came to the plate and delivered a chopper to third base that was fielded cleanly, but an errant throw gave Dennis an uncontested slide into home to seal the win for Middle Tennessee.
After a 45-minute break, the Raiders and Hoosiers returned to the field at 6:30 p.m. for game two of the doubleheader. Sophomore Reid Clements drew the start for MT and went five innings on the mound.
Clements got himself into a few jams, but worked out of it on most occasions, only allowing three runs in the second on two IU home runs.
Middle didn't get a hit up on the scoreboard until freshman Drew Huff tripled to right center in the fifth. Vaughn Shapen hit a loop single to center to score Huff but IU limited the damage to one run in the frame.
The sixth inning featured a two-run bomb by first baseman Kevin Dupree that cleared the trees beyond the right field fence. The home run, the first of the season for Middle Tennessee, tied the game 3-3.
Moving into the seventh inning the bats stayed hot for the Blue Raiders. With two outs and no one on, Riley Delgado, Dennis and Brad Jarreau hit three straight singles to give MT a 4-3 lead heading into the eighth.
Unfortunately for the Raiders, Indiana was able to tie the game up at four with two outs in the bottom of the ninth on a line drive to single to center field.
In the bottom of the tenth the Hoosiers got in their own way again. With the bases loaded and one out, Andrew Cash hit a grounder to the shortstop who fired home for the force out, but the catcher sailed his throw to first into right field, allowing Dupree to cross the plate for the winning run to secure the series win in exhilarating fashion.
"Today was the day of the pitcher for sure," McGuire said. "I think the pitching staff did an outstanding job in both games. After the way they [Indiana] swung the bats last night, for us to shut them down today, it's a tip of the cap to our pitchers."
Middle Tennessee is back on the diamond Tuesday when it hosts Lipscomb at 3:00 p.m.
"I'm extermely proud of how we came out and battled the entire day after last night, as bad as it was," head coach Jim McGuire said. "I didn't sleep very much after that performance, but we came out and the mission of the day was to compete one inning at a time."
Tyler Troutt started the day off for the Blue Raiders, throwing 5-1/3 strong innings in game one of the doubleheader. The senior southpaw allowed three hits and two runs, one of which was unearned, while striking out three Indiana batters.
Indiana's first batter of the game reached base on an error and was able to move to second on the play. After a sac bunt moved the runner to third, a single up the middle allowed the first run of the game to cross the plate unearned.
Troutt cruised through the next few innings but it wasn't until the fifth inning that the Blue Raider offense came alive. Freshman Austin Dennis led off the inning with a single to right center. Austin Sistrunk followed that with a single of his own before Kaleb King moved Dennis to third on a fielder's choice.
Vesser then laid down a bunt and the Raiders executed the squeeze play to perfection to allow Dennis to tie up the game. A hit by pitch followed by a walk pushed King across the plate to give the Blue Raiders a 2-1 lead before the Hoosiers got out of the inning with a double play.
After a walk and a double tied the game up, Troutt got a lineout to second before making way for senior Garrett Ring. The righty pitched three innings for the Raiders while allowing only one hit and striking out four to get Middle Tennessee into the ninth still tied at two.
Middle collected a couple of hits in both the seventh and eighth innings but failed to capitalize before Ring's day ended and Cody Puckett's began, soon moving into extra innings.
Puckett threw 2-2/3 innings of hitless baseball before the bottom half of the 11th rolled around.
"He [Puckett] is unbelievably big for us," McGuire added. "Having that left-hander to come out of the bullpen is going to be big. Puckett has had some ups and downs. He was hurt and missed most of the fall so he's behind as far as repitition goes, but he's got good stuff."
Dennis got the Raiders going with a one-out single before Sistrunk moved him to third on a single to center.
King came to the plate and delivered a chopper to third base that was fielded cleanly, but an errant throw gave Dennis an uncontested slide into home to seal the win for Middle Tennessee.
After a 45-minute break, the Raiders and Hoosiers returned to the field at 6:30 p.m. for game two of the doubleheader. Sophomore Reid Clements drew the start for MT and went five innings on the mound.
Clements got himself into a few jams, but worked out of it on most occasions, only allowing three runs in the second on two IU home runs.
Middle didn't get a hit up on the scoreboard until freshman Drew Huff tripled to right center in the fifth. Vaughn Shapen hit a loop single to center to score Huff but IU limited the damage to one run in the frame.
The sixth inning featured a two-run bomb by first baseman Kevin Dupree that cleared the trees beyond the right field fence. The home run, the first of the season for Middle Tennessee, tied the game 3-3.
Moving into the seventh inning the bats stayed hot for the Blue Raiders. With two outs and no one on, Riley Delgado, Dennis and Brad Jarreau hit three straight singles to give MT a 4-3 lead heading into the eighth.
Unfortunately for the Raiders, Indiana was able to tie the game up at four with two outs in the bottom of the ninth on a line drive to single to center field.
In the bottom of the tenth the Hoosiers got in their own way again. With the bases loaded and one out, Andrew Cash hit a grounder to the shortstop who fired home for the force out, but the catcher sailed his throw to first into right field, allowing Dupree to cross the plate for the winning run to secure the series win in exhilarating fashion.
"Today was the day of the pitcher for sure," McGuire said. "I think the pitching staff did an outstanding job in both games. After the way they [Indiana] swung the bats last night, for us to shut them down today, it's a tip of the cap to our pitchers."
Middle Tennessee is back on the diamond Tuesday when it hosts Lipscomb at 3:00 p.m.
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