Middle Tennesee State University Athletics
Saturday, May 14
Norfolk, VA
2:00 PM
Middle Tennessee
19-32, 0
10
at
5
Old Dominion
30-20, 0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Middle Tennessee
2
1
0
0
2
0
1
4
0
10
17
0
Old Dominion
1
3
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
5
7
1
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Lester, Carson (3-0)
L: BENITEZ, J (1-1)
Batting:
2B: Huff, Drew 1 ; Dennis, Austin 1 ; Shapen, Vaughn 1
HR: Benefield, Blake 1
RBI: Jarreau, Brad 1 ; Benefield, Blake 7 ; King, Kaleb 1 ; Shapen, Vaughn 1
SH: Jarreau, Brad 1 ; Aucker, Aaron 1 ; Dupree, Kevin 1
SF: Benefield, Blake 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Delgado, Riley 3 ; Jarreau, Brad 1 ; Aucker, Aaron 1 ; Benefield, Blake 1 ; Dennis, Austin 1 ; King, Kaleb 1 ; Shapen, Vaughn 2
SB: Jarreau, Brad 1
CS: Cash, Andrew 1
HBP: Aucker, Aaron 1 ; King, Kaleb 1
Batting:
2B: WALKER, N 1 ; BEAM, K 1
HR: MORGAN, W 1
RBI: WALKER, N 3 ; MYERS, C 1 ; MORGAN, W 1
SF: MYERS, C 1
Base Running:
RUNS: WALKER, N 1 ; MORGAN, W 2 ; BISHOP, T 1 ; LUSTRINO, N 1
SB: LUSTRINO, N 1
CS: MYERS, C 1
HBP: LUSTRINO, N 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
R
1
H
3
RBI
7
AB
5
R
1
H
3
RBI
0
AB
4
R
1
H
3
RBI
1
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
IF
/ BaseballIF/OF
/ Baseball
IF
/ BaseballIF
/ Baseball
OF
/ BaseballOF
/ Baseball
P/OF
/ Baseball
IF/C
/ Baseball
P/OF
/ Baseball
Benefield powers Blue Raiders to 10-5 victory at ODU
5/14/2016 10:37:00 PM | Baseball
MT pounds out 17 hits in win
NORFOLK, Va. – Middle Tennessee's bats were potent and pitchers were outstanding from the fourth inning on as the Blue Raiders secured a 10-5 C-USA road win against Old Dominion here Saturday afternoon.
Freshman Blake Benefield led a 17-hit attack with a career performance that just missed breaking a single-game school record for RBI. The freshman left fielder was 3-for-4 with a home run and seven RBI, which tied for the second most in a single game in program history. The single-game record for RBI is eight.
"Blake has been solid throughout the season and has continued to improve throughout the year," Middle Tennessee Head Coach Jim McGuire said. "He's had a great weekend but today was great because we hit throughout the lineup and we battled. We were down and we battled back and found a way to win. I am really proud of our team."
Not only was Benefield dominant, but he also was clutch as six of his seven RBI came with two outs. He was a difference maker but he wasn't the only player to shine as the Blue Raiders put themselves in position for the series win.
Six Blue Raiders had multi-hit games with three players producing three-hit games, including Benefield. Fellow freshman Austin Dennis was 3-for-5 with a double and run scored. Junior Kaleb King was 3-for-4 with a RBI and run scored.
Brad Jarreau was 2-for-4 with one run and one RBI. Junior catcher Vaughn Shapen was 2-for-5 with a double, one run and one RBI, and Drew Huff was 2-for-5 with his seventh double. Riley Delgado was 1-for-3 and scored three times, and Aaron Aucker extended his hit streak to eight games with a 1-for-3 performance and one run scored.
"When you hit the ball as we did and throughout the lineup good things tend to happen," McGuire said. "What was impressive is most of it was against a very good pitcher in (Victor) Diaz, who led ODU in wins and earned run average coming into the game."
Speaking of pitching, Middle Tennessee was solid there as well.
Freshman starter AJ Spencer did not have his best stuff Saturday and gave up four runs in the first two innings; however, the hard-throwing righty competed, battled and found a way to keep his team in the game. He left after five innings in a 5-5 game. Spencer retired the final seven Monarchs he faced before giving way to fellow freshman Carson Lester.
The rookie righty continued his solid season with four innings of two-hit shutout baseball to earn the victory and improve to 3-0 on the season. Lester was fabulous as he retired the first seven he faced before yielding a walk. Only three batters reached against him in four innings of work against an ODU team fighting for its C-USA Tournament life.
"Our pitchers battled and really competed today," McGuire said. "Spencer really worked hard and got us to the middle innings with a chance to win which is all you can ask of your starter, and then Lester was solid in relief. Both of those guys really competed and put our team in position to win today."
Middle Tennessee jumped out to a 2-0 lead compliments of Benefield's team-leading seventh home run of the season with two outs, which is also eighth in C-USA for round trippers.
ODU came back with one in the bottom of the inning, but Middle Tennessee got the run back in the top of the second when Dennis doubled and scored on King's single for a 3-1 lead. That's when danger struck as ODU plated three in the bottom of the second to go on top 4-3. The Monarchs increased the cushion to 5-3 in the bottom of the third, but that's when the Blue Raiders decided enough was enough.
Spencer was perfect in the next two innings and Middle Tennessee scored two in the top of the fifth to tie the game 5-5. Shapen started the uprising with a double and Delgado followed with a walk. Jarreau sacrificed both runners into scoring position, but Aucker grounded out without a run scoring.
No problem. Benefield had his back and delivered a clutch two out, two-run single to tie the game, 5-5.
On came Lester and was outstanding as he retired the first seven ODU hitters before a walk ended that streak. The righty worked four innings, allowed two hits and only walked one. He struck out three and earned his second win of the week to improve to 3-0.
The game remained deadlocked 5-5 until Middle Tennessee broke through for a run in the seventh when Benefield lofted a sac fly to score Delgado and provided what proved to be the game winning RBI; however, the Blue Raiders were far from finished.
They tacked on four insurance runs in the top of the eighth. Shapen and Jarreau each had RBI singles and Benefield capped the frame with a two-out single to plate two more runs.
The Blue Raiders will look to win the series when they send Sam Alton to the mound. First pitch is 11:30 a.m.
Freshman Blake Benefield led a 17-hit attack with a career performance that just missed breaking a single-game school record for RBI. The freshman left fielder was 3-for-4 with a home run and seven RBI, which tied for the second most in a single game in program history. The single-game record for RBI is eight.
"Blake has been solid throughout the season and has continued to improve throughout the year," Middle Tennessee Head Coach Jim McGuire said. "He's had a great weekend but today was great because we hit throughout the lineup and we battled. We were down and we battled back and found a way to win. I am really proud of our team."
Not only was Benefield dominant, but he also was clutch as six of his seven RBI came with two outs. He was a difference maker but he wasn't the only player to shine as the Blue Raiders put themselves in position for the series win.
Six Blue Raiders had multi-hit games with three players producing three-hit games, including Benefield. Fellow freshman Austin Dennis was 3-for-5 with a double and run scored. Junior Kaleb King was 3-for-4 with a RBI and run scored.
Brad Jarreau was 2-for-4 with one run and one RBI. Junior catcher Vaughn Shapen was 2-for-5 with a double, one run and one RBI, and Drew Huff was 2-for-5 with his seventh double. Riley Delgado was 1-for-3 and scored three times, and Aaron Aucker extended his hit streak to eight games with a 1-for-3 performance and one run scored.
"When you hit the ball as we did and throughout the lineup good things tend to happen," McGuire said. "What was impressive is most of it was against a very good pitcher in (Victor) Diaz, who led ODU in wins and earned run average coming into the game."
Speaking of pitching, Middle Tennessee was solid there as well.
Freshman starter AJ Spencer did not have his best stuff Saturday and gave up four runs in the first two innings; however, the hard-throwing righty competed, battled and found a way to keep his team in the game. He left after five innings in a 5-5 game. Spencer retired the final seven Monarchs he faced before giving way to fellow freshman Carson Lester.
The rookie righty continued his solid season with four innings of two-hit shutout baseball to earn the victory and improve to 3-0 on the season. Lester was fabulous as he retired the first seven he faced before yielding a walk. Only three batters reached against him in four innings of work against an ODU team fighting for its C-USA Tournament life.
"Our pitchers battled and really competed today," McGuire said. "Spencer really worked hard and got us to the middle innings with a chance to win which is all you can ask of your starter, and then Lester was solid in relief. Both of those guys really competed and put our team in position to win today."
Middle Tennessee jumped out to a 2-0 lead compliments of Benefield's team-leading seventh home run of the season with two outs, which is also eighth in C-USA for round trippers.
ODU came back with one in the bottom of the inning, but Middle Tennessee got the run back in the top of the second when Dennis doubled and scored on King's single for a 3-1 lead. That's when danger struck as ODU plated three in the bottom of the second to go on top 4-3. The Monarchs increased the cushion to 5-3 in the bottom of the third, but that's when the Blue Raiders decided enough was enough.
Spencer was perfect in the next two innings and Middle Tennessee scored two in the top of the fifth to tie the game 5-5. Shapen started the uprising with a double and Delgado followed with a walk. Jarreau sacrificed both runners into scoring position, but Aucker grounded out without a run scoring.
No problem. Benefield had his back and delivered a clutch two out, two-run single to tie the game, 5-5.
On came Lester and was outstanding as he retired the first seven ODU hitters before a walk ended that streak. The righty worked four innings, allowed two hits and only walked one. He struck out three and earned his second win of the week to improve to 3-0.
The game remained deadlocked 5-5 until Middle Tennessee broke through for a run in the seventh when Benefield lofted a sac fly to score Delgado and provided what proved to be the game winning RBI; however, the Blue Raiders were far from finished.
They tacked on four insurance runs in the top of the eighth. Shapen and Jarreau each had RBI singles and Benefield capped the frame with a two-out single to plate two more runs.
The Blue Raiders will look to win the series when they send Sam Alton to the mound. First pitch is 11:30 a.m.
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