Blue Raiders Dealt First Home Loss of the Season

Saturday, February 22

Murfreesboro, TN

2 PM

Middle Tennessee

2-4

Samford

5-1

Samford

Middle Tennessee

2/22/2020 5:45:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

By: Anthoney Fiorella

Murfreesboro, TENN.—Peyton Wigginton trotted out of the dugout and picked up the ball in the fourth inning. Middle Tennessee found itself down 2-0 early and was in search of a spark to pick things up in what was a briskly played ballgame.

With two outs in the inning, Samford shortstop Taylor Garris laced a double out into the gap between Blue Raider centerfielder Nathan Sanders and right fielder Cole Escher. Wigginton returned to the mound, just as he has many times throughout his career, and toed the rubber in an adverse situation.

With a one-ball, two-strike count on Bulldog third baseman Will David, Wigginton came set and delivered from the stretch. A signature-looping slider from the southpaw got David to swing-and-miss awkwardly at the pitch for strike three and got a rise out of the Reese Smith Jr. Field crowd, sparking a middle-inning rally to tie the game at two after the fifth inning.

However, the rally wasn't enough as Middle Tennessee was dealt its' first home loss by a score of 5-3 to the Samford Bulldogs.

"We did something to cause four of their five runs, which is not a good thing," said Middle Tennessee Head Coach Jim Toman of the loss. "Every time we made a mistake they capitalized. Wigginton kept us in the game and threw very well. We just need to do a better job of scoring runs."

After getting itself down by a pair of runs early, Middle Tennessee left fielder Greg Bennett stepped up to the plate in the fifth inning with a chance to tie the game. With the wind at his back, the right-handed hitter lofted a deep drive toward the brand new scoreboard in right field. Samford outfielders Max Pinto and Ryan Crockett sprinted toward the gap where the ball was headed. Middle Tennessee catcher Mason Speirs stood on second base, waiting to tag in case of a catch.

Bennett, who had just one hit coming into the ballgame, got the timely hit he was looking for as the ball careened off the wall in right-center, and Mason Speirs broke toward third base. Third-base coach Blake Hunt waved Speirs around to score the tying run and Bennett moved to third base as the throw home skipped to the backstop.

A pair of unearned runs in the top half of the sixth inning proved to be the turning point of the ballgame, as a defensive miscue on a dropped third strike led to an RBI double by Samford third baseman Will David.

MTSU starter Peyton Wigginton allowed just two earned runs over the span of those six innings before giving way to what's been a reliable relief option for Middle Tennessee in Austin Cheeley.

Cheeley did his part out of the bullpen, allowing just one run in three innings to help keep the Blue Raiders in it heading into the bottom half of the ninth. The junior combined with Wigginton to strand Samford runners on base.

Aside from Bennett, who ended the afternoon 2-for-2 with a walk and an RBI, Middle Tennessee saw success offensively from DJ Wright, who collected a pair of hits to extend his hitting streak to five games. The Murfreesboro native has hit safely in five of six games, thus far. Shortstop Fausto Lopez extended his hitting streak to five games with an infield-single in the seventh inning and Smyrna native Nathan Sanders also drove in the first run of the ballgame. The junior outfielder sent a worm-burner over the bag at second to push Cole Escher across for his third RBI of the young season.

"We outhit them 11 to eight had caught up (in the middle innings) and things were looking better, but we left to many guys on base."

Escher came up with a timely two-out hit for the Blue Raiders in the bottom of the ninth, sending a looper into right field for an RBI single that brought the tying run to the plate before the final out. Escher, along with DJ Wright, has reached base safely in all six games this season.

The Middle Tennessee pitching staff saw an impressive 22-inning shutout streak come to a close in the loss.

Middle Tennessee will end the SAF Classic tomorrow at 1:00 against the Missouri State Bears.

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