Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
Middle Tennessee
Western Kentucky
Blue Raiders end regular season with series at rival WKU
5/20/2010 1:44:00 PM | Baseball
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - When the 2010 Sun Belt Conference pre-season baseball poll was released, the two teams voted most likely to win it all were Middle Tennessee and Western Kentucky. As a result, the season-ending, three-game series this weekend between the two rivals was highly anticipated. Three months later, WKU is out of contention, and while the Blue Raiders still have a chance to grab at least a share of their second straight title, they will need a lot of help.
All of that, however, does nothing to lessen the intensity with which the two teams will play on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights in Bowling Green. It is still Middle Tennessee vs. Western Kentucky, a rivalry in which the main by-product is bragging rights.
"It is impossible to accurately predict in pre-season polls how things will play out in the end because this league is too tough and too balanced from top to bottom, and other factors such as injuries always play a part," noted Blue Raider head coach Steve Peterson.
"This series with Western Kentucky is always big, as is every athletic contest between the two schools. All of our fans want us to beat Western, and I'm sure that all of their fans want them to beat us, and that's true in every sport, not just baseball."
Middle Tennessee and WKU decided the SBC championship last year in Murfreesboro when the Blue Raiders won the first two games to erase the cushion the Hilltoppers had brought to town, and then claimed the title on the head-to-head tiebreaker when the third game of the series was rained out. Both teams represented the Sun Belt in the NCAA tournament.
Momentum will be on the side of the Blue Raiders (33-19, 17-10), who have won 13 of their last 18 games, including consecutive 3-0 sweeps of New Orleans and Arkansas-Little Rock in conference play. WKU (33-20, 14-13) has lost their last four SBC series after entering conference play ranked 22nd in the nation.
Strong hitting throughout the lineup propels Middle Tennessee, whose .329 team batting average ranks second in the Sun Belt. Pitching is the strong point for the Hilltoppers, whose 4.39 ERA trails only Louisiana-Lafayette.
Middle Tennessee senior Blake McDade leads the league in hitting with a .412 batting average, with teammate Justin Guidry fifth at .392. McDade also leads in both runs scored and on-base percentage, and is third in hits and fourth in doubles and walks. Justin Miller leads the SBC in home runs with 20 and RBI with 72. He is also second in total bases and fourth in slugging percentage.
All-American Bryce Brentz, the league's pre-season Player of the Year, has missed 12 games with an ankle injury, but has come on strong in the last three weeks and is now hitting .366 with 15 home runs and 48 RBI.
The Blue Raiders have hit 83 home runs, with four players having at least a dozen round-trippers. Middle Tennessee is averaging 8.31 runs per game and has scored ten or more runs in 22 games this season.
Western Kentucky's pitching staff features Matt Ridings (9-1) who was the Sun Belt Pitcher of the Week for his 2-1 win over Louisiana last week. Ridings leads the conference in both wins and strikeouts, and will be trying for a league-record 35th career win when he faces the Blue Raiders Thursday night.
Senior Kenneth Roberts will oppose Ridings on the mound Thursday night. The Blue Raider All-American has struggled to a 4-4 record this season, but pitched a masterful complete-game shutout of New Orleans in his last start.
Right-handers Chad Edwards (6-2) and Eric Gilley (6-2) will pitch for Middle Tennessee on Friday and Saturday, respectively. All games will start at 6 pm.
The broadcast of all three games may be heard on the Blue Raider network and online at GoBlueRaiders.com, with Dick Palmer doing the play-by-play. Saturday night's game will also be the featured Sun Belt Conference Game of the Week, shown locally on CSS, Ch. 27.
