Alderman tosses six straight scoreless inning in MTSU’s 4-1 win over Sam Houston in series opener

Friday, May 9

Murfreesboro, Tenn.

6 p.m.

Middle Tennessee

21-28, 0

Sam Houston

12-37, 0

Sam Houston

Middle Tennessee

Photo by: Emily Cole/MT Athletic Communications

5/9/2025 9:05:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

By: Anthony Fiorella | Athletic Communications

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. —In the final series opener of the season, Middle Tennessee (21-28, 6-16) showed up to the park to square off with another team fighting for its' postseason life in the Sam Houston Bearkats (12-27, 6-16). A pair of home runs helped the Blue Raiders get off to a good start by getting them a 4-1 win in the series opener on Friday evening.

Sam Houston pushed across the game's first run in the top of the first and the Blue Raiders tied it up in the bottom of the second on a Hayden Miller base hit to knot it up at 1-1. The base-knock netted Miller his 24th RBI of the year.

In the bottom of the third, designated hitter Brett Vondohlen hit a towering, two-run shot on top of the Lee Victory Wall of Champions in left field to give Middle Tennessee a 3-1 advantage. The former Stewarts Creek Redhawk's 17th home run of the year ties him for 10th in program history for home runs in a single season.

Middle Tennessee starter Chandler Alderman settled in nicely as the evening wore on. The lefty threw six straight scoreless innings and set down eight Bearkats in a row from the fourth through seventh innings. The sophomore struck out six and allowed one earned run in seven innings to earn his fourth win of the year.

Sam Houston starter Noah Kendrick allowed three earned runs on nine hits in six innings of work to get him over the 50-innings pitched plateau on the year.

The Blue Raiders got to Blue Raider reliever Devin Bennett with two outs in the seventh when right fielder Brett Rogers hit a two-out solo shot, his third of the season, to make it 4-1. As an offense, Rogers home run marked the 20th time this season that MTSU has had 10 or more hits in a game.

Catcher Tyler Minnick finished 3-for-4, Rogers had a pair of hits and Eston Snider and Matt Wolfe both reached base twice for Middle Tennessee. Landon Burch tossed a scoreless eighth and ninth to earn his team-high third save of the season.

By the Numbers

17- Home Runs for Brett Vondohlen lead the Blue Raiders and tie him for 10th in program history for home runs in a single season.

44- RBIs for Vondohlen also leads Middle Tennessee.

5- Starts this year in which Chandler Alderman has gone 6.0 innings-plus, which leads the team.

The Skipper Speaks (Jerry Meyers)
"Right before that spurt where (Alderman) settled in, he walked three out of four hitters and then he settled in and we made plays behind him," said Middle Tennessee Head Coach Jerry Meyers. "He started really attacking hitters and his slider was landing. His velocity went up and his last few innings were the sharpest, I thought, even though he was getting toward the end of his pitch count. He made an adjustment and that was huge. Their offense is predicated on getting some free 90's and putting guys in motion and getting you to throw one away. We got a lot of leadoff guys out, and for the most part, we didn't let them get any momentum innings. They're a much better ball club than what their record looks like and we know who they are and what they got and how they try to play, and we handled that ok and got to do it again tomorrow."

Player Perspective (JR C Tyler Minnick)
"Coach (Kevin) Nichols had a great scouting report so I knew exactly what my approach was," Minnick said. "From the first at-bat on, I was able to adjust and it really helped me out. Chandler (Alderman) is an absolute dawg. Tonight, he was really able to get into the counts where he wanted to where his stuff played even more. That's what made him so effective. He got ahead in counts and got some weak contact, and he was really fun to catch. The mindset is to win one inning at a time and one pitch at a time. Each day, we're going out and fighting for our lives, and we're going to see how it ends up."

Up Next
Game two of the series is scheduled for tomorrow at 3:00 p.m at Reese Smith Jr. Field. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ and can be heard on the Blue Raider Network.

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