Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
Middle Tennessee
1-0
Bowling Green
0-1
Hot bats push Blue Raiders to season opening win
2/16/2024 5:05:00 PM | Baseball
MTSU recorded 21 hits as a team, the most in a single game since the 2017 season.
The Blue Raiders (1-0) got started in spectacular fashion when Briggs Rutter smacked an RBI-triple off the padded wall in center field for the game's first run. Rutter came around to score the very next batter when Jackson Galloway struck a single up the middle, setting the tone for the prolific MTSU offense early in the afternoon. The Falcons (0-1) made it a game with five home runs but left eight runners on base thanks to some timely pitching from MTSU.
The Blue Raiders scored at least two runs in four of their eight innings at the plate, led by a three-run bottom of the fifth that saw Luke Vinson double in Clay Badylak and Gabe Jennings single in Vinson and Eston Snider.
MTSU recorded 21 hits as a team on Friday, led by four off the bat of Jennings, who scored two runs and drove in three, one of three Blue Raiders to drive in three runs on Friday. Ollie Akens earned the opening day win in relief of starter Kota Sato on the mound. Sato struck out four Falcons in his opening day start.
By the Numbers
21: Hits for the Blue Raiders on Friday, the most hits for the Blue Raiders in a single game since MTSU had 21 hits against, ironically, Bowling Green, on February 25, 2017.
5: Blue Raiders who recorded at least three hits. Three Blue Raiders posted at least three RBIs.
9: All nine spots in the MTSU lineup recorded at least one hit and scored at least one run.
The Skipper Speaks
"We did a really good job offensively throughout. Their starter was an all-freshman two-way player. He had some good innings for them out of the bullpen and in some starts later in the year. He's a really good player. We did a really good job with him. He has a good breaking ball. The at-bats we put on him to get him to 75 pitches going into the third or fourth inning was probably a key. We only had one inning where we didn't score.
"That being said, we've got to do a little bit better job on the mound at times. Obviously, Kota got us off to a decent start. It would've been nice to get a little more length out of him. They ran some balls out of here, you could call them mistakes or you can just say it was a bad pitch in bad spot, whatever it is. They're not always mistakes when they hit them out. But they got some swings off that obviously did some damage that we've got to curtail."
Player's Perspective – Briggs Rutter
On his RBI-triple to score MTSU's first run of the season
"I'm not very much a speed guy. I saw it carom off the center field wall and thought "I'm going to try to stretch this." I guess I got out (of the box) ok, because I don't usually run like that. It was fun to start off the year with that."
Up Next
MTSU continues its season opener series against the Falcons on Saturday. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m., with radio streaming on GoBlueRaiders.com/watch. There will be no ESPN+ broadcast available for tomorrow's game.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Akens, Ollie (1-0)
L: Newman, Dj (0-1)
Batting:
HR: Newman, Dj 1 ; Seidel, Sam 1 ; Archer,Nathan 1 ; Birchmeier, Brady 1 ; Ross,Tyler 1
RBI: Newman, Dj 1 ; Seidel, Sam 2 ; Archer,Nathan 1 ; Birchmeier, Brady 3 ; Ross,Tyler 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Newman, Dj 2 ; Takats, TJ 1 ; Seidel, Sam 2 ; Archer,Nathan 1 ; Birchmeier, Brady 1 ; Ross,Tyler 1
SB: Newman, Dj 1
CS: Krause,Jack 1
Batting:
2B: Vinson, Luke 1 ; Jennings, Gabe 1 ; Rutter, Briggs 1
3B: Rutter, Briggs 1
HR: Vinson, Luke 1
RBI: Vinson, Luke 3 ; Jennings, Gabe 3 ; Rutter, Briggs 3 ; Galloway, Jackson 1 ; Vinson, Cale 1 ; Badylak, Clay 1
SH: Symlar, Bryce 1 ; Badylak, Clay 1
SF: Badylak, Clay 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Snider, Eston 1 ; Vinson, Luke 3 ; Jennings, Gabe 2 ; Rutter, Briggs 1 ; Galloway, Jackson 1 ; Phillips, Trace 1 ; Holloway, Brady 1 ; Vinson, Cale 1 ; Badylak, Clay 1
SB: Phillips, Trace 1 ; Badylak, Clay 1
HBP: Rutter, Briggs 1
