MT Falls to Tulane In Late Innings

Saturday, February 29

New Orleans, LA

2 PM

Middle Tennessee

3-7

Tulane

8-2

Middle Tennessee

Tulane

2/29/2020 6:32:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

By: Brady McBride

New Orleans, La. – The Middle Tennessee baseball team fell to Tulane, 8-5, in game two of a three game series on a sunny afternoon in New Orleans. The Blue Raiders (3-7, C-USA 0-0) tied the game in the top of the ninth inning on an RBI single from Nathan Sanders, but were defeated in the bottom half on a Green Wave (8-2, AAC 0-0) walk-off home run.

MT jumped out to an early 4-0 lead and struck for three runs on three hits in the top of the fourth. The Blue Raider lead would be erased in the bottom of the fourth as Tulane matched the Raider total on four hits including back-to-back doubles.

"We didn't do enough to win the game," said Head Coach Jim Toman. "When you have the lead in baseball you need to keep that momentum, and as soon as we go up 4-0, they come and hit us with [four runs]."

Peyton Wigginton had another strong showing in his third start of the season and threw for 77 percent strikes. Wigginton pitch six innings, struck out nine, and allowed four earned runs that all came in the fourth inning.

The Blue Raiders saw big games from DJ Wright and Nathan Sanders who each went 4-for-5 in the heart of the MT lineup. Wright finished the game with two doubles and a run scored, followed in the order by Sanders who collected a pair of RBI and tied the game in the final inning.

Walker Armstrong took over pitching duties in the seventh inning and kept the Raiders in the game late, but eventually relented to the Wave offense and gave up a three-run home run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth.

The Blue Raiders will finish out the road swing tomorrow at 1:00 PM CST, before returning home on Tuesday for a mid-week game against Lipscomb.