Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
Friday, April 8
Huntington, WV
11 a.m.
Middle Tennessee
at
Marshall University
Photo by: Matt Posey/MT Athletic Communications
Blue Raiders Shift Focus To Marshall
4/6/2022 11:49:00 AM | Baseball
HUNTINGTON, W.VA – Middle Tennessee baseball resumes conference play this weekend at Marshall. The Blue Raiders have won two straight conference series and six of their last eight games. Entering the week, MT is currently tied for third in the tight Conference USA standings at 5-4.
WEEKEND SCHEDULE
Fri., April 8 - 2 p.m. CDT
Sat., April 9 - 12 p.m. CDT
Sun., April 10 - 12 p.m. CDT
March 29 - April 3 was a week to remember for Middle Tennessee starting pitchers. In four games, the hurlers starting on the bump combined to go 3-1 with 22 strikeouts and an ERA of 1.37 in 26.1 innings pitched. In his first career start, James Sells threw 6.1 shutout, one-hit innings in MT's 8-4 win over Tennessee Tech to start the week.
Establishing himself as a regular Friday starter, Zach Keenan opened the weekend vs. WKU April 1 with seven shutout innings as the Blue Raiders cruised to a 10-2 win. Eriq Swan struck out three over four innings Saturday and Peyton Wigginton wrapped it all up by pitching a complete game April 3 to clinch the series.
Peyton Wigginton and Zach Keenan both sit in the top 10 in the program's career strikeout list.
Wigginton, who has served in a swing role this season on the pitching staff, is up to 231 career strikeouts. After his impressive complete-game, six-strikeout win over Western Kentucky April 3, Wigginton moves into sixth place on the list. Starting 45 games, the left-handed pitcher out of Franklin, Tenn., also sits in tied for sixth on the program's list of most games started in a career.
After tying a career high of 11 strikeouts March 25 at UAB and five punchouts in seven shutout innings against WKU April 1, Keenan moved up to ninth on the all-time list with 223 career strikeouts. Keenan is three strikeouts away from passing current eighth placeholder Steve Sonneberger. Keenan, a right-hander from Suwanee, Ga., has pitched 231.1 innings over his five seasons.
MT's bats have scored 10-or-more runs in a game five times this season, including a 13-run performance vs. Old Dominion. The Blue Raiders have scored in bunches in those games, scoring 11 runs in their final two innings vs. Old Dominion March 20, eight runs in the first two innings at Auburn March 11, seven runs in the final two innings vs. Western Carolina March 2 and an 11-run seventh inning vs. Illinois Feb. 26. All of those games have resulted in Blue Raider wins.
Sixteen members of the 2022 Blue Raider roster came to Murfreesboro through the junior college level. Ten of them are playing in their first seasons wearing blue, black and white. After standout seasons at Johnson County CC, Jackson Galloway and Wyatt Morgan are teammates once again in the 'Boro. Both student-athletes are contributing to this season's Blue Raider team. Galloway is batting .288 with three home runs and 14 RBI while Morgan is second on the team in batting average, hitting .311.
Mason Speirs holds the team lead in batting average (.338) and OPS (.985) while second in home runs with five. Speirs has played 23 games (20 starts) this season between catcher and designated hitter. At the halfway point of the season, the catcher from Westminster, CO, already has more hits (26) than he did combined in his two previous seasons (15).
Fausto Lopez, Brett Coker and JT Mabry have started all 27 games for the Blue Raiders this season in their respective positions. Lopez carries a streak of 98 consecutive starts in a Blue Raider uniform over the past three seasons. Lopez needs 22 more starts in a row to crack the top 10 program list for consecutive games played.
PREPARING FOR THE HERD Marshall settled into the season four games in by winning eight games in a row. Oakland ended the streak March 5 with a 10-4 win in Huntington. Marshall has struggled since the start of conference play as the Herd dropped two games in series against UAB, Rice and FIU.
Luke Edwards leads the Herd in several categories including batting average (.339), slugging percentage (.532), tied for the team lead in home runs (six) and RBI (26). Ryan Leitch also has driven in 26 RBI and is batting .297 with nine doubles.
Jeffrey Purnell is the only Marshall pitcher with a sub-three ERA (2.63) as part of a staff that has an ERA of 5.21. Louis Davenport, Carter Lyles and Cole Agemy each have two wins for Marshall.
WEEKEND SCHEDULE
Fri., April 8 - 2 p.m. CDT
Sat., April 9 - 12 p.m. CDT
Sun., April 10 - 12 p.m. CDT
March 29 - April 3 was a week to remember for Middle Tennessee starting pitchers. In four games, the hurlers starting on the bump combined to go 3-1 with 22 strikeouts and an ERA of 1.37 in 26.1 innings pitched. In his first career start, James Sells threw 6.1 shutout, one-hit innings in MT's 8-4 win over Tennessee Tech to start the week.
Establishing himself as a regular Friday starter, Zach Keenan opened the weekend vs. WKU April 1 with seven shutout innings as the Blue Raiders cruised to a 10-2 win. Eriq Swan struck out three over four innings Saturday and Peyton Wigginton wrapped it all up by pitching a complete game April 3 to clinch the series.
Peyton Wigginton and Zach Keenan both sit in the top 10 in the program's career strikeout list.
Wigginton, who has served in a swing role this season on the pitching staff, is up to 231 career strikeouts. After his impressive complete-game, six-strikeout win over Western Kentucky April 3, Wigginton moves into sixth place on the list. Starting 45 games, the left-handed pitcher out of Franklin, Tenn., also sits in tied for sixth on the program's list of most games started in a career.
After tying a career high of 11 strikeouts March 25 at UAB and five punchouts in seven shutout innings against WKU April 1, Keenan moved up to ninth on the all-time list with 223 career strikeouts. Keenan is three strikeouts away from passing current eighth placeholder Steve Sonneberger. Keenan, a right-hander from Suwanee, Ga., has pitched 231.1 innings over his five seasons.
MT's bats have scored 10-or-more runs in a game five times this season, including a 13-run performance vs. Old Dominion. The Blue Raiders have scored in bunches in those games, scoring 11 runs in their final two innings vs. Old Dominion March 20, eight runs in the first two innings at Auburn March 11, seven runs in the final two innings vs. Western Carolina March 2 and an 11-run seventh inning vs. Illinois Feb. 26. All of those games have resulted in Blue Raider wins.
Sixteen members of the 2022 Blue Raider roster came to Murfreesboro through the junior college level. Ten of them are playing in their first seasons wearing blue, black and white. After standout seasons at Johnson County CC, Jackson Galloway and Wyatt Morgan are teammates once again in the 'Boro. Both student-athletes are contributing to this season's Blue Raider team. Galloway is batting .288 with three home runs and 14 RBI while Morgan is second on the team in batting average, hitting .311.
Mason Speirs holds the team lead in batting average (.338) and OPS (.985) while second in home runs with five. Speirs has played 23 games (20 starts) this season between catcher and designated hitter. At the halfway point of the season, the catcher from Westminster, CO, already has more hits (26) than he did combined in his two previous seasons (15).
Fausto Lopez, Brett Coker and JT Mabry have started all 27 games for the Blue Raiders this season in their respective positions. Lopez carries a streak of 98 consecutive starts in a Blue Raider uniform over the past three seasons. Lopez needs 22 more starts in a row to crack the top 10 program list for consecutive games played.
PREPARING FOR THE HERD Marshall settled into the season four games in by winning eight games in a row. Oakland ended the streak March 5 with a 10-4 win in Huntington. Marshall has struggled since the start of conference play as the Herd dropped two games in series against UAB, Rice and FIU.
Luke Edwards leads the Herd in several categories including batting average (.339), slugging percentage (.532), tied for the team lead in home runs (six) and RBI (26). Ryan Leitch also has driven in 26 RBI and is batting .297 with nine doubles.
Jeffrey Purnell is the only Marshall pitcher with a sub-three ERA (2.63) as part of a staff that has an ERA of 5.21. Louis Davenport, Carter Lyles and Cole Agemy each have two wins for Marshall.
Players Mentioned
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