Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
Sunday, March 20
Murfreesboro, Tenn.
1 p.m.
Middle Tennessee
8-12, 0
13
vs
5
Old Dominion University
16-2, 0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Old Dominion
0
0
0
4
0
0
1
0
0
5
7
0
Middle Tennessee
0
0
0
2
0
0
8
3
X
13
13
2
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Seibert, Trent (2-2)
L: Brett Smith (0-1)
Batting:
2B: Carter Trice 1
HR: Andy Garriola 1 ; Matt Coutney 1
RBI: Andy Garriola 3 ; Matt Coutney 1
SH: Kenny Levari 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Kenny Levari 1 ; Carter Trice 1 ; Andy Garriola 1 ; Matt Coutney 1 ; Josh Trujillo 1
SB: Josh Trujillo 1
Batting:
2B: Lopez, Fausto 1 ; Sanders, Nathan 1 ; Coker, Brett 1
HR: Galloway, Jackson 1 ; Williams, Jacob 1
RBI: Sanders, Nathan 1 ; Morgan, Wyatt 3 ; Mabry, JT 1 ; Galloway, Jackson 5 ; Vinson, Luke 1 ; Williams, Jacob 2
SF: Vinson, Luke 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Lopez, Fausto 2 ; Sanders, Nathan 2 ; Speirs, Mason 2 ; Morgan, Wyatt 2 ; Mabry, JT 1 ; Galloway, Jackson 1 ; Coker, Brett 1 ; Williams, Jacob 1 ; Snider, Eston 1
SB: Lopez, Fausto 1 ; Sanders, Nathan 1 ; Galloway, Jackson 1 ; Coker, Brett 2 ; Snider, Eston 1
HBP: Speirs, Mason 1 ; Morgan, Wyatt 1 ; Mabry, JT 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
5
R
1
H
3
RBI
0
AB
5
R
2
H
2
RBI
0
AB
4
R
2
H
2
RBI
3
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
5
Players Mentioned
INF
/ BaseballOF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
INF
/ Baseball
1B
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
LHP
/ Baseball
INF
/ Baseball
INF
/ Baseball
Photo by: Emily Cole/MT Athletic Communications
Eight-run seventh inning powers Blue Raiders past Monarchs
3/20/2022 5:11:00 PM | Baseball
MT plates 11 runs in the seventh and eighth grab first C-USA win of the year
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — There is a certain magic during a Reese Smith Jr. Field seventh inning stretch on a Sunday afternoon. The sunny skies, the light breeze waving the American flag beyond the Howard and Sally Wall in center field, Lee Greenwood's "God Bless America '' playing over the loudspeakers.
On this particular Sunday, it was what came after the stretch that was magic, as the Blue Raiders touched up three Old Dominion pitchers for eight runs in the bottom of the seventh to power MT to a 13-5 victory in the series finale against the Monarchs.
"I was getting ready for the really bad speech after the first three innings where we did not hit at all. It was not going to be pretty," head coach Jim Toman said. "But I had to change it, because our guys never quit, that was a huge win. I think they had a 12 or 13 game win streak. I told the guys before the game that on Sunday, it's the guys that want it more and that have more energy. After the first three innings, I didn't see that, but all of sudden, boom, there it is.
Middle Tennessee (8-12, 1-2 C-USA) trailed early on after Old Dominion (16-2, 2-1 C-USA) put up four runs in the fourth inning and an unearned run in the top of the seventh. But timely hits that were due to come through after smacking the ball right at ODU fielders all weekend started to fall, and the Blue Raiders played 11 runs in the seventh and eighth combined to control the end game.
"Those first couple of games we were hitting it right at people, that's the way baseball goes," said Jackson Galloway, who was 2-for-4 with five RBIs on Sunday. "It was good that they started falling. You can kind of see how when we get in a groove, everyone kind of tags along, and just passes the bat."
Trent Seibert earned his second win of the season in relief, tossing four innings of one run ball with four strikeouts, including a two punchouts in the top of the ninth. Jaden Hamm was strong starting the game, striking out six Monarchs across five innings of work, pitching four scoreless frames during his time on the bump.
"It was awesome seeing the crowd kind of get into it too," Seibert said of his game-ending strikeout. "Anytime you can end the game with a punchout, it feels great. Without Hamm's effort, we would've never been in that situation, so give credit to him. But it was awesome, it fired me up."
After both starters were perfect through three innings, Old Dominion struck first, hitting two home runs in the top of the fourth to open up a 4-0 lead, but MT quickly responded in the bottom half of the inning. Nathan Sanders walked with one out, stole second, then moved up to third on a groundout, setting himself up to score easily when Wyatt Morgan smacked a base hit through the right side of the infield.
After JT Mabry was hit by a pitch the very next batter, Jackson Galloway kept the runs coming, hitting an RBI-single to left-center field to plate Morgan from second and cut ODU's lead to 4-2.
The Monarchs would tack on another with a steal of third and error on the throw to take a 5-2 lead in the top of the seventh, but "God Bless America" rallied the Blue Raider bats in the bottom half, as Jacob Williams blasted a moonshot over the left-center field wall to drive in Brett Coker and plate two runs, cutting the deficit down to 5-4.
Fausto Lopez and Eston Snider then combined for a perfectly executed hit and run to get a runner on third, then Lopez stole to get runners on second and third. Spiers was intentionally walked with two outs to load the bases, setting up a game-tying RBI from Morgan, who wore a pitch off his elbow guard to push home Snider and tie the game 5-5.
JT Mabry then smacked a line drive nearly over the shortstop's head, trickling off the leaping Monarch's glove to drive in Lopez with an RBI single to give MT its first lead of the game, 6-5. Galloway then became the man of the hour, pushing a fly ball over the right field wall to hit the Blue Raiders' first grand slam since 2019.
"Looking for a pitch I could drive with the bases loaded, kind of a gap to gap approach," Galloway said. "But I wanted to be able to get something I could get over the plate, give it a good ride. I was sitting kind of oppo, and he actually gave me a fastball up and away, I put a good swing on it, let the rest kind of happen."
All told in the bottom of the seventh, MT scored eight runs on six hits, with no Monarch errors, taking a 10-5 lead. MT kept the foot on the gas in the bottom of the eighth scoring three more insurance runs to keep the game out of reach with Seibert grooving on the mound.
Middle Tennessee will hit the road for four games next week, starting with a midweek clash in Clarksville against Austin Peay on Tuesday, before traveling south to Birmingham over the weekend for a series with UAB.
"We're starting to get a little bit of a reputation for maybe we're not so pretty at times," Toman said. "But we're not going to quit, so that's a good thing."
On this particular Sunday, it was what came after the stretch that was magic, as the Blue Raiders touched up three Old Dominion pitchers for eight runs in the bottom of the seventh to power MT to a 13-5 victory in the series finale against the Monarchs.
"I was getting ready for the really bad speech after the first three innings where we did not hit at all. It was not going to be pretty," head coach Jim Toman said. "But I had to change it, because our guys never quit, that was a huge win. I think they had a 12 or 13 game win streak. I told the guys before the game that on Sunday, it's the guys that want it more and that have more energy. After the first three innings, I didn't see that, but all of sudden, boom, there it is.
Middle Tennessee (8-12, 1-2 C-USA) trailed early on after Old Dominion (16-2, 2-1 C-USA) put up four runs in the fourth inning and an unearned run in the top of the seventh. But timely hits that were due to come through after smacking the ball right at ODU fielders all weekend started to fall, and the Blue Raiders played 11 runs in the seventh and eighth combined to control the end game.
"Those first couple of games we were hitting it right at people, that's the way baseball goes," said Jackson Galloway, who was 2-for-4 with five RBIs on Sunday. "It was good that they started falling. You can kind of see how when we get in a groove, everyone kind of tags along, and just passes the bat."
Trent Seibert earned his second win of the season in relief, tossing four innings of one run ball with four strikeouts, including a two punchouts in the top of the ninth. Jaden Hamm was strong starting the game, striking out six Monarchs across five innings of work, pitching four scoreless frames during his time on the bump.
"It was awesome seeing the crowd kind of get into it too," Seibert said of his game-ending strikeout. "Anytime you can end the game with a punchout, it feels great. Without Hamm's effort, we would've never been in that situation, so give credit to him. But it was awesome, it fired me up."
After both starters were perfect through three innings, Old Dominion struck first, hitting two home runs in the top of the fourth to open up a 4-0 lead, but MT quickly responded in the bottom half of the inning. Nathan Sanders walked with one out, stole second, then moved up to third on a groundout, setting himself up to score easily when Wyatt Morgan smacked a base hit through the right side of the infield.
After JT Mabry was hit by a pitch the very next batter, Jackson Galloway kept the runs coming, hitting an RBI-single to left-center field to plate Morgan from second and cut ODU's lead to 4-2.
The Monarchs would tack on another with a steal of third and error on the throw to take a 5-2 lead in the top of the seventh, but "God Bless America" rallied the Blue Raider bats in the bottom half, as Jacob Williams blasted a moonshot over the left-center field wall to drive in Brett Coker and plate two runs, cutting the deficit down to 5-4.
Fausto Lopez and Eston Snider then combined for a perfectly executed hit and run to get a runner on third, then Lopez stole to get runners on second and third. Spiers was intentionally walked with two outs to load the bases, setting up a game-tying RBI from Morgan, who wore a pitch off his elbow guard to push home Snider and tie the game 5-5.
JT Mabry then smacked a line drive nearly over the shortstop's head, trickling off the leaping Monarch's glove to drive in Lopez with an RBI single to give MT its first lead of the game, 6-5. Galloway then became the man of the hour, pushing a fly ball over the right field wall to hit the Blue Raiders' first grand slam since 2019.
"Looking for a pitch I could drive with the bases loaded, kind of a gap to gap approach," Galloway said. "But I wanted to be able to get something I could get over the plate, give it a good ride. I was sitting kind of oppo, and he actually gave me a fastball up and away, I put a good swing on it, let the rest kind of happen."
All told in the bottom of the seventh, MT scored eight runs on six hits, with no Monarch errors, taking a 10-5 lead. MT kept the foot on the gas in the bottom of the eighth scoring three more insurance runs to keep the game out of reach with Seibert grooving on the mound.
Middle Tennessee will hit the road for four games next week, starting with a midweek clash in Clarksville against Austin Peay on Tuesday, before traveling south to Birmingham over the weekend for a series with UAB.
"We're starting to get a little bit of a reputation for maybe we're not so pretty at times," Toman said. "But we're not going to quit, so that's a good thing."
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