Blue Raiders Wrap Up Productive Fall With Blue-White World Series

10/21/2019 12:38:00 PM | Baseball

By: @MTAthletics

Murfreesboro, Tenn.- Middle Tennessee wrapped up its' annual fall workouts with the Blue-White World Series on Sunday, with the Blue team taking the series two games to one.
The Blue Raiders entered the fall with new faces aplenty, as Head Coach Jim Toman and his staff brought in 33 new players.

"These guys can play a little bit. I'm excited about it, but we still have a long way to go before our first game in February," said Head Coach Jim Toman. "We still have a ton of work to do, but I just told these guys they want to work and they're fun to work with. We got a lot better, we can get a lot better still in my opinion."

Middle Tennessee opened up fall practice on September 12 and played seven intra-squad scrimmages before taking on Columbia State Community College at Reese Smith Field on September 28. The Blue Raiders took that ballgame by a score of 16-6 behind home runs from catcher Mason Speirs and infielders Brian Dillingham and Mark Engel.

Following another six days of intra-squad work, Middle Tennessee welcomed the Motlow State Bucks into Murfreesboro on October 12. The Blue Raiders shutout the Bucks behind 21 strikeouts from the pitching staff, including five apiece from Brycen Thomas and Austin Cheeley.

Over the fall period, Middle Tennessee hit .285 as a team with 26 home runs and 150 RBIs. Individually, the Blue Raiders saw some great performances by both new and old faces at the dish. The team was led by Mark Engel in average and saw a tie for the team lead in home runs between Jacob Williams and Greg Bennett with five.

"We have a lot of good hitters it's just a matter of getting into a grove and Coach [Blake] Hunt is working daily with them and making them better," said Toman.

On the mound, the Blue Raider pitching staff did a good job of keeping hitters off-balance, boasting a 248:80 strikeout to walk ratio. Peyton Wigginton and Adam Link dazzled the crowd during the second game of the Blue-White World Series, combining to throw a perfect game to knot the series up at one-game apiece. Justin Medlin battled his way to a team-low ERA of 1.06 in 17 innings pitched. Medlin also led the team in strikeouts with 28, one more than transfer Aaron Brown.

"The pitchers did a nice job, they were dominating early till the hitters caught up to the arms toward the end. Just because the scrimmages are over doesn't mean we can't get a lot better," said Toman.

The Blue Raiders closed out the fall with an entertaining Blue-White World Series over the weekend. After a 20-run outburst from both offenses in game one and a perfect game in game two, it gave fans plenty to cheer for all weekend as the Blue team took the rubber game on Sunday. See below for a complete recap of each game from the series.

Game 1- Facing a 1-0 deficit in the fourth inning of Friday's ballgame, the Blue squad was looking for a spark offensively. Brycen Thomas took the mound with nowhere to put another baserunner as junior catcher Mason Speirs dug into the box. The Iowa Western transfer unloaded the bases with a double to right-center field, sparking a 10-run inning that helped the Blue team claim a 13-7 win in game one.

"Mason Speirs had seven RBIs and was our player of the day," said Head Coach Jim Toman. "The past few scrimmages, our hitters have picked it up and played well."

Along with his seven RBIs, Speirs went 3-for-4, collecting an RBI each time he recorded a hit. Behind the plate, Speirs caught a game-winning performance from Justin Medlin. The left-hander, who started the game for the Blue squad, delivered four innings of one-run ball, striking out four in the process.

Following the blue team's 10-run outburst in the fourth inning, the white team strung together six runs in the middle innings to claw their way back into the ballgame. Nick Carnevale and Jake Hagenow
paced the white team at the dish, combining to go 4-for-6 with three RBIs, two walks and a run. Carnevale's RBI double started a rally that led to a five-run top of the sixth for the white team.

"It was definitely an offensive day," Toman said. "Guys played hard. There was a lot of good things and some things we need to work on. But the story of the day was definitely Speirs seven RBIs."

Game 2- A light rain sprinkled down from the sky, illuminated by the lights at Reese Smith Field. It was chilly, damp and grey. Certainly an imperfect afternoon for baseball. But for two men, the afternoon couldn't have gone more perfectly.

Peyton Wigginton toed the rubber in the fifth inning. A whisp of hair hung just below the brim of his blue cap with the classic "MT" baseball logo. He took a deep breath, looking as calm as the rain that pattered the roof of the dugouts. With four strikeouts under his belt already, he raised his glove over his head and started to windup for a two-strike, two-out delivery. The ball found the back of catcher Jake Hagenow's mitt to preserve Wigginton's fifth perfect inning of the afternoon.

"It was fun to get out and compete and just play baseball," Wigginton said. "With it being the last scrimmage of the fall (for me), it was my last opportunity to get out and compete."
Wigginton made the most of the opportunity, combining with Adam Link to deliver a perfect game in a 3-0 win for the white team to even the series at one game apiece.

"The story of game two was the perfect game by Wigginton and Link," said Head Coach Jim Toman. "That was the first perfect game I've seen in a while, and it was great to see."

The only runs of the afternoon came on one swing of the bat by Wigginton and Link's battery-mate, Jake Hagenow. Hagenow drove a hanging curveball over the wall in left-field during the third inning to give the white team a 3-0 lead, a lead it would preserve throughout the seven-inning affair.

For the blue squad, Aaron Brown went 4.2 innings, striking out seven and stranding five baserunners. He was relieved by Drew Vaden in the bottom of the fourth with two men out in the inning. Vaden got out of the inning by striking out Fausto Lopez to combine with Brown to strike out the side in the fourth.

"There was a well-timed home run by Hagenow, and I thought Brown pitched well aside from the mistake to Hagenow," Toman said. "We'll go onto the deciding game (Sunday) night at 6:00 with the series tied at one."

Game 3- With the series tied at 1 apiece and having been blanked in the hit column the day before the Blue team rearranged their lineup putting Luke Vinson in the leadoff position and Brian Dillingham and Cole Escher in the heart of the order.

In the bottom of the second inning the Blue team would bat all nine starters and seven would reach via a base hit, including a triple from Vinson and a home run from Greg Bennett on their way to putting up five runs in the inning.

Bennett added on to the Blue lead by hitting his second home run of the night, stretching the Blue lead to 6-0.

Jack Julian started on the bump for the Blue squad. Julian pitched four innings, allowed no runs, on two hits and five strikeouts before being relieved by Austin Cheeley. Scheldon Paulk finished out the game for and the series, allowing no runs and completing the 6-0 shutout.

Anthony Fiorella is a writer for goblueraiders.com. Follow him on Twitter @a_fiorella74 and also follow @MT_Baseball for more on the Blue Raiders.