Blue Raiders ride Brown’s nine strikeouts to 5-3 win over Bowling Green

Saturday, February 27

Murfreesboro, TN

11:00 AM

Middle Tennessee

4-2

Bowling Green

0-2

Bowling Green

Middle Tennessee

Photo by: Emily Cole/MT Athletic Communications

2/27/2021 2:44:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

By: Anthony Fiorella

Murfreesboro, Tenn.—Middle Tennessee starter Aaron Brown stared down at catcher Mason Speirs. There were two strikes and a Bowling Green Falcon standing on second in a scoreless tie in the game's third inning. The Mt. Juliet native nodded, came set and fired a 93 mile-per-hour fastball to pick up a huge inning-ending strikeout. It was Brown's fifth strikeout through the first two innings, and the Blue Raider ace would eventually collect a grand total of nine strikeouts through five innings in his second win of the season; a 5-3 series-clinching win over the Falcons.

"The key (for Brown) is that he throws strikes," said Middle Tennessee Head Coach Jim Toman. "He didn't walk anyone today. It would've been good to get another inning out of him, but we had to get him out of there pitch-count wise, but he's throwing it well."

Through his first two starts this season, Brown has been nothing short of electric, pitching his way to a 2-0 record while sporting a 0.90 ERA and a 20:0 strikeout to walk ratio. Opponents are hitting just 4-for-34 against Brown this season.

Middle Tennessee scored the games' first run when second baseman JT Mabry sent a Rigo Ramos off-speed pitch off the Lee Victory Wall of Champions in left field to give the Blue Raiders a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third.

The Blue Raiders used a big fourth inning to blow the game open, scoring three runs on five hits. Brett Coker smashed a one-out triple to right-center field and was followed up by three straight singles by Cole Escher, Mark Engel and Brycen Thomas, who all eventually came in to score.

"We strung together four hits in a row and had a lot of hard-hit balls and a few line drives," Toman said of the breakout inning. "The guys are starting to get their timing down. We haven't had a lot of opportunities against live pitching, but overall today our hitters were a lot better."

Aside from Brown's strong effort, Middle Tennessee pitchers combined to have a strong effort overall. Freshman Eriq Swan came on in relief of Brown in the sixth inning and combined with fellow Freshman Jaden Hamm to deliver three innings of scoreless ball. Hamm struck out the side in the eighth inning, making it the third time in the game the Blue Raiders accomplished that feat after Aaron Brown did it in the second and fourth innings. Bowling Green came gave the hometown fans a scare in the ninth inning, plating all three of its' runs, but junior Austin Cheeley came on to shut the door with the tying run on second to earn his first save of the year.

At the plate, Middle Tennessee had a big day out of its' Preseason All-CUSA third baseman Brett Coker, who was 2-for-3 with a run scored, a walk and a triple in the fourth. Cole Escher had a pair of hits and a spectacular sliding catch to rob Bowling Green's Tyler Ross of extra bases in the fifth inning. The Blue Raider right fielder also drove in Nathan Sanders on a sac-fly in the fifth inning to give Middle Tennessee its' fifth and final run.

"We've played six games in six days, and we're going to try to give it another go tomorrow depending on the weather," Toman said.

Middle Tennessee will end its' three-game home stand with the Falcons at 1:00 p.m.

Follow the Blue Raiders on Twitter (@MT_Baseball), Facebook (Blue Raider Baseball) and Instagram (@MT_Baseball).

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