Middle Tennesee State University Athletics
Friday, May 12
Houston, TX
6:30 PM
Middle Tennessee
at
Rice
Blue Raiders Travel to Texas Again to Take on Rice
5/11/2017 3:00:00 PM | Baseball
First Pitch Set for 6:30 p.m. Friday
GAME INFORMATION
Hashtag: #BlueRaiders
Twitter: @MT_Baseball (Live Tweets)
Instagram: MT_Baseball
Facebook: MTSU Blue Raider Baseball
Date: Fri - Sun May 12th-14th
Time: 6:30 p.m. (Fri.), 6 p.m. (Sat.), 12 p.m. (Sun.)
Teams: Middle Tennessee (20-27, 7-17 C-USA) at Rice (22-27, 12-12 C-USA)
Location: Houston, Texas
Stadium: Reckling Park (7,000)
Radio: Fri.& Sat. - 92.3 WMOT 2, 89.5 FM Sun. (Dick Palmer, PxP)
Live Audio/Video
Projected Starting Pitchers:
Fri: LHP Cody Puckett
Sat: LHP Jake Wyrick
Sun: TBA
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – Middle Tennessee travels back to Texas for the second straight week to take on Rice in Houston this weekend.
The Owls lead the overall series 6-5. Rice won the 2016 series in Murfreesboro, after dropping Friday night's contest 3-0.
The Blue Raider offense has been the high point of the season with eight batters hitting .288 or better. The MT offense has improved in nearly every offensive category from a year ago and currently ranks 13th in the country (2nd in Conference USA) with 529 hits.
The potent MT offense also ranks 23rd (2nd in C-USA) in batting average, hitting .305 on the year, while also sitting at 32th in the nation with 98 doubles.
Designated hitter Aaron Aucker currently leads the team in batting average as the redshirt junior is boasting an impressive.380 average this season, good enough for second in C-USA. Aucker also ranks at second in C-USA with a .690 slugging percentage and first in the conference with a .492 on-base percentage.
The Knoxville native also had an 18-game hitting streak that ended Sunday, the longest hitting streak since Ryan Stephens in 2013.
Seniors Brad Jarreau and Riley Delgado have impressed in their final season in a Blue Raider jersey, hitting .356 and .340 respectively. Delgado ranks T-4th in C-USA (36th in the nation) with 70 base hits this year.
Newcomer Ryan Kemp has impressed all season and continues to do so, now second on the team with a .375 average (4th in C-USA) and .654 slugging percentage (4th in C-USA).
Seniors Chaz Vesser and Kaleb King have also emerged as an offensive threat lately, hitting .500 and .400 respectively, over their last four games.
The weekend rotation will change a bit this week, with Cody Puckett moving up a day and getting the Friday night start. The lefty struggled in his last start at UTSA. He is currently 2nd on the team with 54 strikeouts
Saturday night, Jake Wyrick will get the start. The southpaw has had back-to-back solid starts on the mound, after struggling the whole year in C-USA. He leads the team in strikeouts with 62.
Sunday's starter is TBA.
Rice is one of the hottest teams in the country right now, winning eight of its last nine C-USA games. The Owls were riding a six-game winning streak before dropping a mid-week game against No. 20 Houston, 6-5 Tuesday night.
The Owls have been unusually down this year, but seem to be peaking at the right time, currently sitting in the eighth and final spot for the C-USA tournament.
Rice will go with RHP Matt Canterino, RHP Zach Esquivel and TBA Sunday.
First pitch is set for Friday night at 6:30 p.m.
An audio and video broadcast will be available on CUSA.TV/RaiderVision and on the radio (92.3 FM WMOT 2 Friday and Saturday; 89.5 FM Sunday). Follow LIVE tweets on Twitter (@MT_Baseball).
Hashtag: #BlueRaiders
Twitter: @MT_Baseball (Live Tweets)
Instagram: MT_Baseball
Facebook: MTSU Blue Raider Baseball
Date: Fri - Sun May 12th-14th
Time: 6:30 p.m. (Fri.), 6 p.m. (Sat.), 12 p.m. (Sun.)
Teams: Middle Tennessee (20-27, 7-17 C-USA) at Rice (22-27, 12-12 C-USA)
Location: Houston, Texas
Stadium: Reckling Park (7,000)
Radio: Fri.& Sat. - 92.3 WMOT 2, 89.5 FM Sun. (Dick Palmer, PxP)
Live Audio/Video
Projected Starting Pitchers:
Fri: LHP Cody Puckett
Sat: LHP Jake Wyrick
Sun: TBA
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – Middle Tennessee travels back to Texas for the second straight week to take on Rice in Houston this weekend.
The Owls lead the overall series 6-5. Rice won the 2016 series in Murfreesboro, after dropping Friday night's contest 3-0.
The Blue Raider offense has been the high point of the season with eight batters hitting .288 or better. The MT offense has improved in nearly every offensive category from a year ago and currently ranks 13th in the country (2nd in Conference USA) with 529 hits.
The potent MT offense also ranks 23rd (2nd in C-USA) in batting average, hitting .305 on the year, while also sitting at 32th in the nation with 98 doubles.
Designated hitter Aaron Aucker currently leads the team in batting average as the redshirt junior is boasting an impressive.380 average this season, good enough for second in C-USA. Aucker also ranks at second in C-USA with a .690 slugging percentage and first in the conference with a .492 on-base percentage.
The Knoxville native also had an 18-game hitting streak that ended Sunday, the longest hitting streak since Ryan Stephens in 2013.
Seniors Brad Jarreau and Riley Delgado have impressed in their final season in a Blue Raider jersey, hitting .356 and .340 respectively. Delgado ranks T-4th in C-USA (36th in the nation) with 70 base hits this year.
Newcomer Ryan Kemp has impressed all season and continues to do so, now second on the team with a .375 average (4th in C-USA) and .654 slugging percentage (4th in C-USA).
Seniors Chaz Vesser and Kaleb King have also emerged as an offensive threat lately, hitting .500 and .400 respectively, over their last four games.
The weekend rotation will change a bit this week, with Cody Puckett moving up a day and getting the Friday night start. The lefty struggled in his last start at UTSA. He is currently 2nd on the team with 54 strikeouts
Saturday night, Jake Wyrick will get the start. The southpaw has had back-to-back solid starts on the mound, after struggling the whole year in C-USA. He leads the team in strikeouts with 62.
Sunday's starter is TBA.
Rice is one of the hottest teams in the country right now, winning eight of its last nine C-USA games. The Owls were riding a six-game winning streak before dropping a mid-week game against No. 20 Houston, 6-5 Tuesday night.
The Owls have been unusually down this year, but seem to be peaking at the right time, currently sitting in the eighth and final spot for the C-USA tournament.
Rice will go with RHP Matt Canterino, RHP Zach Esquivel and TBA Sunday.
First pitch is set for Friday night at 6:30 p.m.
An audio and video broadcast will be available on CUSA.TV/RaiderVision and on the radio (92.3 FM WMOT 2 Friday and Saturday; 89.5 FM Sunday). Follow LIVE tweets on Twitter (@MT_Baseball).
Players Mentioned
IF
/ Baseball
SS
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
OF/1B
/ Baseball
LHP
/ Baseball
C
/ Baseball
LHP
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