Middle Tennesee State University Athletics
Middle Tennessee
16-11, 5-3
Old Dominion
9-16, 2-6
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Lester, Carson (3-2)
L: Morgan Maguire (2-2)
S: Huff, Drew (4)
Batting:
2B: Woodard, LA 1 ; Aucker, Aaron 1 ; Benefield, Blake 2 ; Huff, Drew 1
HR: Antonini, Aaron 1
RBI: Kemp, Ryan 1 ; Benefield, Blake 1 ; Antonini, Aaron 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Dennis, Austin 1 ; Aucker, Aaron 2 ; Benefield, Blake 1 ; Antonini, Aaron 1
SB: Woodard, LA 1 ; Huff, Drew 1
CS: Benefield, Blake 1
Batting:
2B: Bryce Windham 1
HR: Will Morgan 1
RBI: Will Morgan 2
SH: Matt Schwarz 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Erik Stock 1 ; Will Morgan 1
HBP: Matt Schwarz 1
PO: Tye Golden 1
Game Leaders
Players Mentioned
Blue Raiders take game two of series vs. ODU
3/31/2018 6:36:00 PM | Baseball
NORFOLK, Va.- For the second straight game, Middle Tennessee (16-11, 5-3) got great starting pitching as they defeated Old Dominion (9-16, 2-6) by a score of 5-2.
Middle Tennessee would strike first for the 15th time this season when Blake Benefield doubled to right field to score Aaron Aucker who led off the second inning with a double himself.
"I was just trying to move him over the best I could." Said the junior Benefield. "Aaron came up huge with the double and it worked out in our favor."
Benefield finished day at the plate with four hits in five at-bats. Along with his sole RBI, he would score a run when Aaron Antonini crushed his fourth home run of the season to put the Blue Raiders up 3-0 in the second inning.
Junior Carson Lester recorded his second straight quality start while picking up the victory. Lester worked 6.0 innings, giving up just five hits while striking out five. The only inning the Monarchs could muster a run against Lester came in the fourth inning when they scored two, but Lester was able to coax a double play to get out of the inning.
Perhaps the play of the game came in the bottom of the seventh. With runners at first and second base and two outs, center fielder Austin Dennis fielded a single and fired a perfect throw to the third baseman Kevin Sullivan who slapped the tag on the Monarch base runner right before the run could score at home plate. The heads up play by Dennis thwarted any kind of momentum that Old Dominion was attempting to build.
The Blue Raiders would tack on a single run in both the eighth and ninth inning to give Drew Huff a comfortable three run cushion to pick up the save. Huff worked 3.0 innings, striking out three of the 11 batters he faced.
The Blue Raiders will return to Bud Metheny Baseball Facility tomorrow at 11 a.m. to try to complete the road series sweep. Freshman Peyton Wigginton is scheduled to start for the Blue Raiders.
