Middle Tennesee State University Athletics
Middle Tennessee
14-27, 0
WKU
29-14, 0
Vondohlen's three home runs power Blue Raiders past Hilltoppers
4/26/2024 9:42:00 PM | Baseball
The redshirt freshman set the program record for RBIs in a single game
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Middle Tennessee baseball rode the hot bat of Brett Vondohlen to a win in the first game of the series against Western Kentucky, winning 16-9 in a high scoring affair at Reese Smith Jr. Field on Friday night.
The Blue Raiders (14-27, 5-11 C-USA) trailed by two runs after the top of the first against the Hilltoppers (29-14, 11-5 C-USA), but MTSU answered back with four runs of their own in the bottom half, scoring on Luke Vinson's first of two bunt singles, Trace Phillips first career triple, and an RBI groundout from Jackson Galloway.
The second inning provided more runs for each team, with the Blue Raiders scoring six in the bottom of the frame. Four of those runs came off the bat of redshirt freshman Brett Vondohlen, in his first of two Grand Slams of the evening, giving MTSU a 10-5 lead after just two complete innings.
WKU added four more runs in as many frames to make the score 10-9 heading into the bottom of the sixth. That is where Vondohlen hit his second Grand Slam of the night to put the Blue Raiders up 14-9, this one a 456-foot moonshot over the left-center field wall.
In the eighth inning, who other than Brett Vondohlen hit his third home run of the night to add two RBIs to hit record breaking night. His 10 RBIs on the evening broke the Blue Raider record for RBIs in a single game, passing Drew Huff, who had nine RBIs at Belmont on March 27, 2018.
Vondohlen finished the night 4-for-5 at the dish, becoming the first Blue Raider since Myles Christian on April 5th, 2019, to hit three home runs in a single game. Two other Blue Raiders had at least three hits (Luke Vinson: 3-for-4 with two runs and Trace Phillips: 3-for-5 with three runs and three RBIs). James Sells earned his fourth win of the season in relief of starter Cole Torbett, striking out four Hilltoppers. Colin Kerrigan, Patrick Johnson and Will Jenkins slammed the door, combining for 4.1 innings of scoreless ball out of the bullpen to end the game.
By the Numbers
2: Brett Vondohlen hit two grand slams on Friday.
10: Vondohlen set the record for most RBIs in a game in Blue Raider history.
16: MTSU tied for the most runs vs the Hilltoppers this season and tied their season-high in runs scored in a single game.
The Skipper Speaks
"We wanted to get him (Vondohlen) in there. We have been trying to work him into the lineup because we have seen what he can do with the bat. Brett is a good, young hitter and gets good at bats for us. I'm very proud of the kid. He works his tail off and lives in the cage so I'm really happy for him.
Player's Perspective: Brett Vondohlen
"I was able to take the low and offspeed pitches early and then got some more pitches that I was able to get my swing on and drive it to left center. I knew it was going to be a high scoring game at the beginning, I could tell it was going to be a dogfight. It feels good to come out on top. This has got to be my favorite experience in college so far."
Up Next
The Blue Raiders will host game two of the series vs WKU at the Reese tomorrow, April 27th at 3:00 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ and the Blue Raider Radio Network.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Sells, James (4-6)
L: BENNETT, Jack (6-3)
Batting:
2B: ROSS, Camden 1 ; LIZAMA, Ethan 1 ; BRANNIGAN, Zayd 2
HR: HAYES, Kyle 1
RBI: O'CONNELL, Dylan 2 ; ROSS, Camden 1 ; CAVILL, Blake 1 ; HAYES, Kyle 1 ; BRANNIGAN, Zayd 2
Base Running:
RUNS: O'CONNELL, Dylan 1 ; HALLER, Austin 2 ; CAVILL, Blake 1 ; BROWNING, Brady 1 ; HAYES, Kyle 2 ; BRANNIGAN, Zayd 2
CS: O'CONNELL, Dylan 1 ; HALLER, Austin 1 ; ROSS, Camden 1
HBP: HALLER, Austin 1 ; CAVILL, Blake 1 ; BROWNING, Brady 1
Batting:
2B: Snider, Eston 1
3B: Phillips, Trace 1
HR: Vondohlen, Brett 3
RBI: Rutter, Briggs 1 ; Phillips, Trace 3 ; Galloway, Jackson 1 ; Vondohlen, Brett 10
SH: Jennings, Gabe 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Snider, Eston 2 ; Vinson, Luke 2 ; Rutter, Briggs 2 ; Phillips, Trace 3 ; Galloway, Jackson 1 ; Brewer, Nathan 2 ; Vinson, Cale 1 ; Vondohlen, Brett 3
SB: Vondohlen, Brett 1
HBP: Vinson, Luke 1
