Middle Tennesee State University Athletics
Middle Tennessee
20-17-1, 0
UAB
13-26, 0
Blue Raiders Run-Rule UAB to Take Series Lead, 2-1
4/24/2021 5:21:00 PM | Baseball
"Any time you can win in Conference USA it's a good day," said Head Coach Jim Toman. "The hitters were just locked in today… We probably scored more runs today than we have in a month, maybe that's a sign of things to come."
Toman's estimate wasn't far off, the Blue Raider's 17 runs are more than the Blue Raiders have scored in their last five games combined (15).
The Blue Raiders also tied their season-high in hits with 15, a total it took them 12 innings to get to earlier this month in a 9-9 tie vs. Rice.
Six batters in the Blue Raider lineup had multi-hit games against Blazer pitching. Fausto Lopez, Cole Escher, Hunter Sullivan, Brett Coker, Nathan Sanders and Daniel Freeman all had two hits in Saturday's victory.
"We finally had a day where we really swung [the bat] well," said Toman. "I know we have a lot of potential hitting wise, but we haven't shown it up to this point. Although today we broke out the bats and I'm proud of the guys for that."
Blue Raider starting pitcher Zach Keenan tossed the top of the first inning before the contest was halted because of rain. After a 30-minute pause in the action and a six-run bottom of the first inning, Keenan made his way back to the bump for inning number two.
Keenan exited the game after four innings pitched, allowed four runs, all earned, struck out five, and picked up the no decision.
"We had to sit Keenan for about 30-45 minutes and maybe that affected his performance because he wasn't as sharp as he usually is," said Toman. "I give credit to UAB, they have a lot of good hitters and they put together some good at-bats against [Keenan]."
Keenan made way for Freshman Jaden Hamm who entered the game in the fifth and inherited a 12-4 lead.
Hamm pitched two innings, allowed a run, walked one and fanned one Blazer batter before handing the ball over to Eriq Swan who closed out the top of the seventh.
"The pitchers pitched okay, they only walked four batters and they didn't have that many clean innings because they've had to face a good hitting team in UAB, but they competed," said Toman.
The Blue Raiders look to close out the series against the Blazers tomorrow. First pitch for the series finale is scheduled for 1 p.m.
"Hopefully Sunday will be sunny, and we can win a series," said Toman.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Hamm, Jaden (2-1)
L: Tanner Rusk (1-2)
Batting:
2B: Zack Davis 1 ; Ian Ladner 1
HR: Ian Ladner 1
RBI: Zack Davis 1 ; Ian Ladner 5 ; Pate Fullerton 1
SF: Pate Fullerton 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Darryl Buggs 1 ; Chandler Simpson 1 ; Colton Schultz 1 ; Zack Davis 1 ; Ian Ladner 1 ; J Paul Fullerton 1 ; Joseph Kiel 1
HBP: Jess Davis 1 ; John Marc Mullins 1
PO: Jess Davis 1
Batting:
2B: Freeman, Daniel 1 ; Sanders, Nathan 1
3B: Coker, Brett 1
RBI: Lopez, Fausto 1 ; Escher, Cole 2 ; Sullivan, Hunter 1 ; Coker, Brett 1 ; Freeman, Daniel 2 ; Sanders, Nathan 2 ; Williams, Jacob 2 ; Rutter, Briggs 3
SF: Rutter, Briggs 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Lopez, Fausto 1 ; Mabry, JT 2 ; Escher, Cole 2 ; Sullivan, Hunter 2 ; Coker, Brett 3 ; Jennings, Gabe 1 ; Symlar, Bryce 1 ; Freeman, Daniel 3 ; Sanders, Nathan 2
SB: Sanders, Nathan 2
HBP: Lopez, Fausto 1 ; Edge, Carter 1 ; Freeman, Daniel 1
