Blue Raiders Walk Off 49ers in Extra Innings Thriller

Thursday, April 14

Murfreesboro, Tenn.

6 p.m.

Middle Tennessee

17-15, 0

Charlotte

18-15, 0

Charlotte

Middle Tennessee

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Next Event

Charlotte

L, 5-10

Apr 15 (Fri)

6 p.m.

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Full Schedule

Team Stats

Pitching:

W: Wigginton, Peyton (5-2)

L: Colby Bruce (1-2)

Charlotte

Batting:

3B: Jake Cunningham 1

RBI: Jake Cunningham 1

Base Running:

RUNS: Jack Dragum 1 ; Cam Fisher 1 ; Austin Knight 1

CS: Jake Cunningham 1

HBP: Nate Furman 1

Middle Tennessee

Batting:

2B: Mabry, JT 1 ; Morgan, Wyatt 1 ; Speirs, Mason 1

RBI: Lopez, Fausto 1 ; Mabry, JT 1 ; Morgan, Wyatt 1 ; Coker, Brett 1

SH: Negishi, Tatsunori 1 ; Vinson, Luke 1

SF: Lopez, Fausto 1

Base Running:

RUNS: Lopez, Fausto 1 ; Mabry, JT 1 ; Morgan, Wyatt 1 ; Dillingham, Brian 1

SB: Lopez, Fausto 1 ; Dillingham, Brian 1

HBP: Lopez, Fausto 1 ; Morgan, Wyatt 1 ; Coker, Brett 1

Peyton Wigginton

LHP

/ Baseball

Photo by: Matt Posey/MT Athletic Communications

4/14/2022 11:06:00 PM | Baseball

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Four Blue Raiders combine to give up only one earned run on Thursday

By: Sam Doughton

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — JT Mabry thought he'd get a slider. After going up in the count 2-0, with his teammate Fausto Lopez on second after a passed ball, Mabry waited on his pitch in the bottom of the 11th.

"I got into a good count and he had to come at me," Mabry said. "And I did what I did."

A few pitches later, after a 49er mound visit, he did what he did, punching a line drive down the left field line to plate Lopez from second, giving Middle Tennessee baseball a 4-3 extra-innings walk-off win to open the series against Charlotte.

"As soon as he hit it, I had high hopes, but this game is kind of weird sometimes," Lopez said. "As soon as I saw it hit the ground, I was just taking off. Rounding third, watching everybody stand up over here and stand up in the dugout, it means I'm about to be safe."

The Blue Raiders (17-15, 8-5 C-USA) pitched well throughout the night, allowing just one earned run among the three the 49ers (18-15, 4-9 C-USA) plated on Thursday night at Reese Smith Jr. Field. Peyton Wigginton earned the win after pitching a perfect top of the eleventh, with good outings from starter Zach Keenan and relievers Trent Seibert and Jaden Hamm to complete the Blue Raider quartet.

Mabry was the heart of the MT offense, going 4-for-6 at the dish with a run and an RBI, while Brian Dillingham was productive near the bottom of the lineup, going 2-for-5 with a run and a stolen base.

"We played pretty darn good, but sometimes you've got to get lucky too," head coach Jim Toman said. "We stepped up when we needed to."

After Charlotte scored two unearned runs in the top of the first, Middle Tennessee was able to claw one back in the bottom half. Wyatt Morgan was hit by pitch, Mason Spiers doubled and Jackson Galloway walked, setting up an RBI HBP from Brett Coker that played Morgan, cutting Charlotte's lead down to 2-1.

The pitchers dueled into the fourth inning, when the Blue Raiders were able to strike back for the lead. Dillingham led off the bottom half of the inning with a single and promptly stole second, moving to third on sac bunt. Lopez then blasted a fly ball to right, scoring Dillingham on the sac fly to tie the game. Back-to-back doubles from Mabry and Morgan then scored Mabry, giving MT its first lead of the game at 3-2.

Dillingham got to show off his cannon in right field in the next half inning, sprinting near the foul line to secure the second out of the inning, then fired across the field to nail the runner sprinting from second to third by a full step to end the scoring threat and the inning.

Charlotte tied the game in the top of the ninth after tripling in a runner who walked to reach first following the 49ers , but Hamm struck out the next two batters to strand the runner at third. MT would go scoreless in the bottom half, forcing the game into extra innings.

Hamm kept the 49ers at bay in the 10th, while MT got two runners on in the bottom half, but couldn't bring them home. Wigginton entered to throw the 11th, once again putting up a zero for the 49ers, setting up Mabry's walk-off heroics.

Middle Tennessee will continue its series against Charlotte tomorrow evening at 6 pm. The Easter weekend series will then conclude on Saturday at noon.

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