Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
Photo by: Josie Knight/MTSU Athletic Communications
MTSU's pitching and defense shine in battle with Walters State
10/19/2025 6:11:00 PM | Baseball
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Middle Tennessee baseball took on the No. 1 ranked Junior College team in the nation, Walters State at The Reese Sunday afternoon.
Each Blue Raider pitcher threw for one inning for the duration of the 14 inning battle. LHP Chandler Alderman started the game on the bump for the Blue Raiders allowing just one hit in the first. Landen Burch would follow up in the second with two strikeouts, and just one hit allowed. Reigning Conference USA Second Teamer, Drew Horn, consistently sat 96-98 on his fastball with his hard breaking slurve to sit down two Senators and forcing the third to pop out to have a scoreless outing against his former team.
In the third inning, the Blue Raiders opened the scoring with a Badylak single then coming around to score on a Cooper Clapp base knock to the outfield. It would be until the fifth inning for the Raiders to rally another run after Kenny McKinley drew a walk, stole second, and eventually scored from a Badylak sacrifice fly to put the second run on the board for MTSU. Cooper Clapp led the next inning off with a double to the left-center gap and came to score on an Owen Nowak sacrifice fly.
On the pitching side, John Micheal Pickens, Ethan Robinson, Gavin King, Abel Abarran, Landon Sexton, and Ollie Akens shut down WSCC for nine shutout innings combining for six hits, nine strikeouts, and four walks.
In the 10th inning, Walters State put up two runs on three hits to bring it within one run before the MTSU bats woke up in the bottom half of the inning with five runs on five hits with Nathan Brewer leading off the inning with a single, followed by McKinley getting on by a hit-by-pitch, then a Keaton Ray two-RBI single would score them both. Badylak kept the momentum going with a single of his own to put two runners on for Cale Vinson in which he brought a run home on a hard hit single. Badylak was able to score on an WSCC error, then Calvin Cook finished the scoring with a base hit of his own to score Vinson.
Matthew Driver came in relief in the 11th and allowed three hits, however struck out three to shutout the inning and move to the 12th where Walker Shaw came in the game for MTSU. He had two outs on as many pitches, and then allowed one hit and a walk before the first MTSU error came into play which allowed a run to score eventually, but wouldn't be earned against Shaw.
In the bottom of the 12th inning, MTSU was able to scratch a run across after a lead off single by Brewer, pushed over by Grant Snider sac bunt, then scored on a Clay Badylak single for his third hit of the day and second RBI of the afternoon. The following inning, Grant Snider led off with a hard hit single through the left side of the infield. He stole second base before scoring on back-to-back errors by the Senators. One of which allowed Nowak to reach base, then Konner Bowden ripped a single through the right side to put him on third. He would score on a sac fly from Tyler Minnick to extend the Blue Raider lead.
After 14 innings, the Blue Raiders allowed just three runs (two earned), while striking out 16 batters, while walking eight. The defense shined with an outfield assist by Layne Akers gunning out a runner at third on a sacrifice fly to left, two double plays to get out of jams, and only one error in the 12th inning.
On the offensive side, MTSU tallied 18 hits for 11 runs to showcase the talent that returns in the box. 16 batters saw action with 12 tallying at least one hit. Nathan Brewer led the charge on offense going 4-for-6 with a run scored, followed by Badylak with a 3-for-4 day.
The Skipper Speaks (Head Coach Jerry Meyers)
"It was good to have another team out here to do it against and a good day overall. We got a bunch of at-bats and ran 14 arms out there, but obviously we have a lot to work on. I feel we played the game the right way, but not perfect. They ran some quality arms out there, especially in the first couple of innings… When we got ourselves in some jams, we played damage control pretty well on the pitching side of the ball and were able to get out of some instances with guys in scoring position, but for the most part, we threw enough strikes, we were pretty clean, and had a good demeanor on the mound.
Hitting
Player H AB SO BB R RBI
Nowak 1 5 0 0 0 1
Rogers 0 1 0 1 0 0
Minnick 1 5 0 0 0 1
Vondohlen 0 6 2 0 0 0
Brewer 4 6 1 0 1 0
McKinley 0 2 0 1 2 0
Ray 1 4 2 2 1 2
Wolfe 1 5 1 0 0 0
Badylak 3 4 0 0 2 2
Junnila 0 2 2 0 0 0
Clapp 2 2 0 0 1 1
Bowden 1 3 0 0 0 0
Vinson 1 3 0 0 1 1
Cook 1 1 0 0 0 1
Snider 1 2 1 0 1 0
Akers 1 1 0 0 0 0
Pitching
Player H SO BB R ER
Alderman 1 0 0 0 0
Burch 1 2 0 0 0
Horn 0 2 1 0 0
Pickens 1 0 0 0 0
Robinson 0 1 1 0 0
King 0 2 1 0 0
Albarran 1 1 1 0 0
Sexton 1 1 0 0 0
Akens 1 0 0 0 0
Cates 3 0 2 2 2
Driver 3 3 0 0 0
Shaw 1 0 1 1 0
Fortner 0 1 0 0 0
Beranek 0 3 1 0 0
Each Blue Raider pitcher threw for one inning for the duration of the 14 inning battle. LHP Chandler Alderman started the game on the bump for the Blue Raiders allowing just one hit in the first. Landen Burch would follow up in the second with two strikeouts, and just one hit allowed. Reigning Conference USA Second Teamer, Drew Horn, consistently sat 96-98 on his fastball with his hard breaking slurve to sit down two Senators and forcing the third to pop out to have a scoreless outing against his former team.
In the third inning, the Blue Raiders opened the scoring with a Badylak single then coming around to score on a Cooper Clapp base knock to the outfield. It would be until the fifth inning for the Raiders to rally another run after Kenny McKinley drew a walk, stole second, and eventually scored from a Badylak sacrifice fly to put the second run on the board for MTSU. Cooper Clapp led the next inning off with a double to the left-center gap and came to score on an Owen Nowak sacrifice fly.
On the pitching side, John Micheal Pickens, Ethan Robinson, Gavin King, Abel Abarran, Landon Sexton, and Ollie Akens shut down WSCC for nine shutout innings combining for six hits, nine strikeouts, and four walks.
In the 10th inning, Walters State put up two runs on three hits to bring it within one run before the MTSU bats woke up in the bottom half of the inning with five runs on five hits with Nathan Brewer leading off the inning with a single, followed by McKinley getting on by a hit-by-pitch, then a Keaton Ray two-RBI single would score them both. Badylak kept the momentum going with a single of his own to put two runners on for Cale Vinson in which he brought a run home on a hard hit single. Badylak was able to score on an WSCC error, then Calvin Cook finished the scoring with a base hit of his own to score Vinson.
Matthew Driver came in relief in the 11th and allowed three hits, however struck out three to shutout the inning and move to the 12th where Walker Shaw came in the game for MTSU. He had two outs on as many pitches, and then allowed one hit and a walk before the first MTSU error came into play which allowed a run to score eventually, but wouldn't be earned against Shaw.
In the bottom of the 12th inning, MTSU was able to scratch a run across after a lead off single by Brewer, pushed over by Grant Snider sac bunt, then scored on a Clay Badylak single for his third hit of the day and second RBI of the afternoon. The following inning, Grant Snider led off with a hard hit single through the left side of the infield. He stole second base before scoring on back-to-back errors by the Senators. One of which allowed Nowak to reach base, then Konner Bowden ripped a single through the right side to put him on third. He would score on a sac fly from Tyler Minnick to extend the Blue Raider lead.
After 14 innings, the Blue Raiders allowed just three runs (two earned), while striking out 16 batters, while walking eight. The defense shined with an outfield assist by Layne Akers gunning out a runner at third on a sacrifice fly to left, two double plays to get out of jams, and only one error in the 12th inning.
On the offensive side, MTSU tallied 18 hits for 11 runs to showcase the talent that returns in the box. 16 batters saw action with 12 tallying at least one hit. Nathan Brewer led the charge on offense going 4-for-6 with a run scored, followed by Badylak with a 3-for-4 day.
The Skipper Speaks (Head Coach Jerry Meyers)
"It was good to have another team out here to do it against and a good day overall. We got a bunch of at-bats and ran 14 arms out there, but obviously we have a lot to work on. I feel we played the game the right way, but not perfect. They ran some quality arms out there, especially in the first couple of innings… When we got ourselves in some jams, we played damage control pretty well on the pitching side of the ball and were able to get out of some instances with guys in scoring position, but for the most part, we threw enough strikes, we were pretty clean, and had a good demeanor on the mound.
Hitting
Player H AB SO BB R RBI
Nowak 1 5 0 0 0 1
Rogers 0 1 0 1 0 0
Minnick 1 5 0 0 0 1
Vondohlen 0 6 2 0 0 0
Brewer 4 6 1 0 1 0
McKinley 0 2 0 1 2 0
Ray 1 4 2 2 1 2
Wolfe 1 5 1 0 0 0
Badylak 3 4 0 0 2 2
Junnila 0 2 2 0 0 0
Clapp 2 2 0 0 1 1
Bowden 1 3 0 0 0 0
Vinson 1 3 0 0 1 1
Cook 1 1 0 0 0 1
Snider 1 2 1 0 1 0
Akers 1 1 0 0 0 0
Pitching
Player H SO BB R ER
Alderman 1 0 0 0 0
Burch 1 2 0 0 0
Horn 0 2 1 0 0
Pickens 1 0 0 0 0
Robinson 0 1 1 0 0
King 0 2 1 0 0
Albarran 1 1 1 0 0
Sexton 1 1 0 0 0
Akens 1 0 0 0 0
Cates 3 0 2 2 2
Driver 3 3 0 0 0
Shaw 1 0 1 1 0
Fortner 0 1 0 0 0
Beranek 0 3 1 0 0
Players Mentioned
RHP
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UTL
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LHP
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INF
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OF
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OF
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RHP
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INF
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INF
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RHP
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OF
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C
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OF
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LHP
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INF
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INF
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