Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
Saturday, February 21
Murfreesboro, Tenn.
1 p.m.
Middle Tennessee
4-2
5
vs
6
St. Bonaventure
3-3
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
St. Bonaventure
1
0
0
1
1
1
2
0
0
6
11
2
Middle Tenn.
0
0
1
1
0
0
2
1
0
5
10
3
MTSU baseball falls in game two to St. Bonaventure
2/21/2026 5:57:00 PM | Baseball
Middle Tennessee baseball (4-2) dropped the second game of its three game set against the St. Bonaventure Bonnies (3-3), 6-5 on Saturday.
Junior left-hander Chandler Alderman got the start for the Blue Raiders and turned in 4.1 innings of three-run ball, although only one run was charged to his record. The lone earned run came in the top of the first, with SBU's Chris Hoalcraft singling in Anthony Fernandez who reached on a single to leadoff the afternoon.
The two unearned runs came in the fourth and fifth innings, on an infield single by the Bonnies and a sacrifice fly to left field.
MTSU got on the board in the second inning with an unearned run of its own, with Tyler Minnick legging out a bases loaded infield single. The Blue Raiders later tied it up at two in the fourth, after Cooper Clapp drove in Brett Vondohlen on an error by the first baseman.
After the SBU sacrifice fly in the fifth, Alderman was replaced by 6-foot-7 right-hander Gavin King (L, 0-1). The Bonnies tagged King for three runs in 1.2 innings, leading to the visiting offense reaching six runs.
The Blue Raiders offense came to life late in the seventh inning. With two outs against right-hander Tristan Ciampa (S, 1), Vondohlen and Nathan Brewer both laced RBI doubles to bring Middle Tennessee within two at 6-4.
Owen Nowak helped cut this lead down to one run in the eighth with a sacrifice fly to center to score Clapp.
Left-handed reliever Collin Kerrigan, who gave the Blue Raiders 3.0 innings of scoreless ball behind King, hurled a 1-2-3 ninth to set the MTSU offense up for a chance to walk off for the second straight night.
SBU's Ciampa was able to shut the door, overcoming a single to left field by Vondohlen and two loud outs by Brewer and Rogers with hard-hit balls to first base.
By the Numbers
10: The Blue Raider pitching staff produced 10 strikeouts while the bats produced 10 hits on Saturday.
6: The Blue Raiders drew six walks in the loss.
26: Alderman's start was his 26th straight start for the Blue Raiders, dating back to March 23, 2024.
The Skipper Speaks (Jerry Meyers)
"It's like any other time, you just have to bounce back," Meyers said. "Yesterday we were fortunate to find a gap with two outs in that scenario and today [they didn't] and that's just the nature of the game. It was a culmination of a lot of pitches, a lot of at-bats, some of the free 90s we gave up to them. They did a better job than we did today and we came up short."
Player Perspective (Matt Wolfe)
"The mindset is the same every day, we just try to come in and try to attack and do as much as we can," Wolfe said. "It's baseball, sometimes it's not going to fall for us. We prepare all week, so I'm not changing much coming into game three."
Next up
The Blue Raiders and Bonnies will meet for the final game of the series at Reese Smith Jr. Field tomorrow. First pitch is set for 1:00 p.m.
Junior left-hander Chandler Alderman got the start for the Blue Raiders and turned in 4.1 innings of three-run ball, although only one run was charged to his record. The lone earned run came in the top of the first, with SBU's Chris Hoalcraft singling in Anthony Fernandez who reached on a single to leadoff the afternoon.
The two unearned runs came in the fourth and fifth innings, on an infield single by the Bonnies and a sacrifice fly to left field.
MTSU got on the board in the second inning with an unearned run of its own, with Tyler Minnick legging out a bases loaded infield single. The Blue Raiders later tied it up at two in the fourth, after Cooper Clapp drove in Brett Vondohlen on an error by the first baseman.
After the SBU sacrifice fly in the fifth, Alderman was replaced by 6-foot-7 right-hander Gavin King (L, 0-1). The Bonnies tagged King for three runs in 1.2 innings, leading to the visiting offense reaching six runs.
The Blue Raiders offense came to life late in the seventh inning. With two outs against right-hander Tristan Ciampa (S, 1), Vondohlen and Nathan Brewer both laced RBI doubles to bring Middle Tennessee within two at 6-4.
Owen Nowak helped cut this lead down to one run in the eighth with a sacrifice fly to center to score Clapp.
Left-handed reliever Collin Kerrigan, who gave the Blue Raiders 3.0 innings of scoreless ball behind King, hurled a 1-2-3 ninth to set the MTSU offense up for a chance to walk off for the second straight night.
SBU's Ciampa was able to shut the door, overcoming a single to left field by Vondohlen and two loud outs by Brewer and Rogers with hard-hit balls to first base.
By the Numbers
10: The Blue Raider pitching staff produced 10 strikeouts while the bats produced 10 hits on Saturday.
6: The Blue Raiders drew six walks in the loss.
26: Alderman's start was his 26th straight start for the Blue Raiders, dating back to March 23, 2024.
The Skipper Speaks (Jerry Meyers)
"It's like any other time, you just have to bounce back," Meyers said. "Yesterday we were fortunate to find a gap with two outs in that scenario and today [they didn't] and that's just the nature of the game. It was a culmination of a lot of pitches, a lot of at-bats, some of the free 90s we gave up to them. They did a better job than we did today and we came up short."
Player Perspective (Matt Wolfe)
"The mindset is the same every day, we just try to come in and try to attack and do as much as we can," Wolfe said. "It's baseball, sometimes it's not going to fall for us. We prepare all week, so I'm not changing much coming into game three."
Next up
The Blue Raiders and Bonnies will meet for the final game of the series at Reese Smith Jr. Field tomorrow. First pitch is set for 1:00 p.m.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: N. Feidt (1-0)
L: King, Gavin (0-1)
S: T. Ciampa (1)
Batting:
2B: M. Castro 1
RBI: A. Fernandez 1 ; C. Hoalcraft 1 ; J. Calabrett 1 ; A. Cordeiro 1 ; B. Carrother 1 ; C. Vercollon 1
SH: C. Lamothe 1
SF: A. Fernandez 1
Base Running:
RUNS: A. Fernandez 1 ; M. Castro 1 ; J. Calabrett 3 ; C. Vercollon 1
Batting:
2B: Brewer, Nathan 1 ; Vondohlen, Brett 1
RBI: Nowak, Owen 1 ; Minnick, Tyler 1 ; Brewer, Nathan 1 ; Vondohlen, Brett 1
SF: Nowak, Owen 1
Base Running:
RUNS: O'Neill, Dean 1 ; Brewer, Nathan 1 ; Vondohlen, Brett 1 ; Wolfe, Matt 1 ; Clapp, Cooper 1
Game Leaders
AB
4
R
1
H
3
RBI
1
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
AB
5
R
0
H
1
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
LHP
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
INF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
C
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
INF
/ Baseball
INF
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