Middle Tennesee State University Athletics
Tuesday, March 15
Murfreesboro, Tenn.
6 p.m.
Middle Tennessee
7-10
7
vs
6
Austin Peay State University
7-11
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Austin Peay
2
1
0
2
0
1
0
0
0
6
9
0
Middle Tennessee
3
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
2
7
9
1
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Sells, James (1-1)
L: WELLMAN, Nick (0-1)
Batting:
2B: ROBINSON, Michael 1
HR: ALEXANDER, Jack 1 ; BEAMON, Jonah 1
RBI: AVROS, Gino 1 ; BOLTON, John 1 ; ALEXANDER, Jack 2 ; COTTO, Tyler 1 ; BEAMON, Jonah 1
SH: BOLTON, John 1 ; ROBINSON, Michael 1
Base Running:
RUNS: DeLANCEY, Ty 1 ; ALEXANDER, Jack 1 ; ROBINSON, Michael 2 ; COTTO, Tyler 1 ; BEAMON, Jonah 1
CS: BOLTON, John 1
HBP: ROBINSON, Michael 1
Batting:
2B: Sanders, Nathan 1
3B: Galloway, Jackson 1
HR: Morgan, Wyatt 1
RBI: Coker, Brett 1 ; Sanders, Nathan 2 ; Thomas, Brycen 1 ; Morgan, Wyatt 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Coker, Brett 1 ; Speirs, Mason 1 ; Sanders, Nathan 1 ; Galloway, Jackson 2 ; Morgan, Wyatt 1 ; Dillingham, Brian 1
SB: Coker, Brett 1
HBP: Coker, Brett 1 ; Galloway, Jackson 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
1
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
2
Players Mentioned
INF
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
C
/ Baseball
INF
/ Baseball
LHP/INF
/ Baseball
1B
/ Baseball
C
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
C
/ Baseball
RHP/INF
/ Baseball
Photo by: Kaitlyn Hungerford/MT Athletic Communications
Middle Tennessee walks off the Governors for first home win in 2022
3/15/2022 10:07:00 PM | Baseball
James Sells tosses three scoreless innings to earn the win in relief
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Middle Tennessee baseball may have been down most of the evening at Reese Smith Jr. Field, but the Blue Raiders were never out of their 7-6 Tuesday night victory over Austin Peay.
Trailing 6-5 heading into the bottom of the ninth, the Blue Raiders got their first two runners of the inning, Jackson Galloway and Brain Dillingham, on a hit-by-pitch and sac-bunt turned single. After two quick outs, Brett Coker punched a single to right field to plate Galloway from second and move Dillingham to third and tie the game.
Nick Jones then walked to load the bases, setting up the Governor wild pitch on the first pitch to Nathan Sanders that sailed the backstop, scoring Dillingham to the cheers of the Blue Raider faithful, and the excitement of head coach Jim Toman after a tough day for the Blue Raider team.
"We attended Briggs Rutter's mom's funeral today, and that was for Briggsy and his family," an emotional Toman said post game. "He has gone through a tough time with his mom passing, and he actually showed up here in the dugout on the day his mom was buried, which shows you the type of teammate he is. His dad put something on his mom's seat up there, so we had someone smiling down on us tonight."
James Sells earned the win for MT with three scoreless innings out of the bullpen, dotting fastballs all over the zone en route to three strikeouts. The freshman righty gave up no hits in his three innings of work.
"Just fastballs firing into the zone," Sells said of what was working for him on the night. "It's always important to get ahead of hitters. And I had all my stuff working. I was able to make some good pitches, execute some pitches and get some guys out."
Sells was in the splash zone of the celebration postgame as Dillingham took the brunt of the Gatorade bath at home plate. It was MT's first walk off win since Fausto Lopez hit an RBI single to walk-off 3-2 against UAB on April 25, 2021.
"We were live, we were ready to win," Sells said. "We hadn't had a walkoff this year. Once we got some runners on, we knew we were going to make some things happen. I'm definitely really wet, it's a good feeling to have though."
After Austin Peay plated two runs in the top of the first, MT came roaring back with a two out rally, with Coker hit by pitch and Mason Speirs single setting the stage for a full count blast from Sanders, which caromed off the left field wall to score both Blue Raiders. Brycen Thomas punched a floating single to shallow center field to score Sanders the very next batter and give MT a 3-2 lead after one inning.
The Governors would tie the game in the top of the second, and add two more in the top of the fourth and one more in the top of the sixth, but the Blue Raiders struck back in the bottom of the seventh.
Galloway hit MT's second triple of the season to start the rally, blasting a ball off the center field fence. Wyatt Morgan then pinch hit in the nine hole, sending a moonshot over the trees in right field to cut the Governor lead to 6-5. It was MT's first pinch hit home run since Justin Medlin's vs Southern Miss on May 9, 2021.
Middle Tennessee now turns its attention to the C-USA opening series this weekend at the Reese, when Old Dominion comes to Murfreesboro. The reigning C-USA tournament champions, the Monarchs were picked third in the coaches' preseason poll and are 14-1 heading into the weekend.
"We're fired up," Toman said. "It'll be a big test for us, but our guys are going to be loose. That's a good thing, we're not going to be tight and we're not afraid and they seem to be having fun."
Trailing 6-5 heading into the bottom of the ninth, the Blue Raiders got their first two runners of the inning, Jackson Galloway and Brain Dillingham, on a hit-by-pitch and sac-bunt turned single. After two quick outs, Brett Coker punched a single to right field to plate Galloway from second and move Dillingham to third and tie the game.
Nick Jones then walked to load the bases, setting up the Governor wild pitch on the first pitch to Nathan Sanders that sailed the backstop, scoring Dillingham to the cheers of the Blue Raider faithful, and the excitement of head coach Jim Toman after a tough day for the Blue Raider team.
"We attended Briggs Rutter's mom's funeral today, and that was for Briggsy and his family," an emotional Toman said post game. "He has gone through a tough time with his mom passing, and he actually showed up here in the dugout on the day his mom was buried, which shows you the type of teammate he is. His dad put something on his mom's seat up there, so we had someone smiling down on us tonight."
James Sells earned the win for MT with three scoreless innings out of the bullpen, dotting fastballs all over the zone en route to three strikeouts. The freshman righty gave up no hits in his three innings of work.
"Just fastballs firing into the zone," Sells said of what was working for him on the night. "It's always important to get ahead of hitters. And I had all my stuff working. I was able to make some good pitches, execute some pitches and get some guys out."
Sells was in the splash zone of the celebration postgame as Dillingham took the brunt of the Gatorade bath at home plate. It was MT's first walk off win since Fausto Lopez hit an RBI single to walk-off 3-2 against UAB on April 25, 2021.
"We were live, we were ready to win," Sells said. "We hadn't had a walkoff this year. Once we got some runners on, we knew we were going to make some things happen. I'm definitely really wet, it's a good feeling to have though."
After Austin Peay plated two runs in the top of the first, MT came roaring back with a two out rally, with Coker hit by pitch and Mason Speirs single setting the stage for a full count blast from Sanders, which caromed off the left field wall to score both Blue Raiders. Brycen Thomas punched a floating single to shallow center field to score Sanders the very next batter and give MT a 3-2 lead after one inning.
The Governors would tie the game in the top of the second, and add two more in the top of the fourth and one more in the top of the sixth, but the Blue Raiders struck back in the bottom of the seventh.
Galloway hit MT's second triple of the season to start the rally, blasting a ball off the center field fence. Wyatt Morgan then pinch hit in the nine hole, sending a moonshot over the trees in right field to cut the Governor lead to 6-5. It was MT's first pinch hit home run since Justin Medlin's vs Southern Miss on May 9, 2021.
Middle Tennessee now turns its attention to the C-USA opening series this weekend at the Reese, when Old Dominion comes to Murfreesboro. The reigning C-USA tournament champions, the Monarchs were picked third in the coaches' preseason poll and are 14-1 heading into the weekend.
"We're fired up," Toman said. "It'll be a big test for us, but our guys are going to be loose. That's a good thing, we're not going to be tight and we're not afraid and they seem to be having fun."
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