Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
Tuesday, February 24
Murfreesboro, Tenn.
3 p.m.
Middle Tennessee
6-2
11
vs
1
Tennessee Tech
5-4
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
R
H
E
Tennessee Tech
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
1
3
0
Middle Tenn.
0
1
0
0
2
2
5
1
11
14
1
Blue Raiders run-rule Tennessee Tech behind Albarran's start, O'Neill's two home runs
2/24/2026 7:04:00 PM | Baseball
Middle Tennessee (6-2) baseball picked up its third run-rule win of the season, taking down in-state rival Tennessee Tech (5-4) 11-1 in eight innings on Tuesday night.
The Blue Raiders' first win over the Golden Eagles since March of 2023 came in emphatic fashion, behind a strong effort from five MTSU pitchers and two home runs from Dean O'Neill.
The senior first baseman's hot night got started while Middle Tennessee held a 3-1 lead in the sixth, as O'Neill drove a pitch down the right field line for a solo home run.
This set off an offensive flurry from the Blue Raiders in the remaining two innings, with Owen Nowak adding to the lead in the same frame with an RBI single.
Middle Tennessee continued to pour it on in the seventh, as Brett Rogers lined a ball off the blue batter's eye in center field for a two-run home run. O'Neill cranked his second home run of the night, with another opposite field solo home run.
Nowak picked up two more RBI in the seventh after Tennessee Tech's Jackson Rooker lost a lazy flyball in the lights at Reese Smith Jr. Field with two outs. Clay Badylak and Cooper Clapp scurried to home plate, growing the lead to 10-1.
On the mound, MTSU received a superb start from right-hander Abel Albarran. In his second appearance of the year, the junior college arm struck out three Golden Eagles while limiting the Tennessee Tech offense to just one hit over 4.2 innings.
John Michael Pickens and Landon Sexton followed Albarran out of the bullpen, stringing together 1.0 innings of work to hand it off to the Blue Raiders' right-handed swingman, Landen Burch (W, 2-0).
Burch entered in the sixth with the bases loaded and two outs, striking out Tennessee Tech's Aaron Moffit to strand all three runners. This sparked O'Neill and the rest of the Blue Raiders' late rally through the sixth and seventh.
With no outs in the eighth, O'Neill stepped to the plate with the bases loaded. Rather than sticking to his home run hitting trend, the slugging first baseman beat out a swinging bunt to first base to score the run-rule triggering run. Nathan Brewer scored to send the Blue Raiders into a frenzy, celebrating another mercy rule win.
By the numbers:
3: Middle Tennessee's run-rule victory was it's first win over Tennessee Tech in three seasons.
1.1: Landen Burch threw 1.1 innings of shutout relief to pick up his second winning decision of the season.
9: All nine of the Blue Raiders starters recorded a hit in the win.
The Skipper Speaks (Jerry Meyers)
"We did a nice job, even in the first five innings I thought we did a lot of good things and were outplaying them in all three phases," Meyers said. "... We did a good job of holding them at-bay. It was a really good quality start from Abel Albarran, Burch was really good out of the pen."
Player Perspective (Dean O'Neill)
"Whatever momentum that Tennessee Tech had, because of that strikeout, we took it all back," O'Neill said of Burch's bases-load strikeout. "Burch started that rally, because of the shift of energy right there."
Next up
The Blue Raiders' will continue a 13-game homestand to open 2026, by welcoming Illinois State (5-2) to Murfreesboro for a three-game set over the weekend. Game 1 on Friday is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m.
The Blue Raiders' first win over the Golden Eagles since March of 2023 came in emphatic fashion, behind a strong effort from five MTSU pitchers and two home runs from Dean O'Neill.
The senior first baseman's hot night got started while Middle Tennessee held a 3-1 lead in the sixth, as O'Neill drove a pitch down the right field line for a solo home run.
This set off an offensive flurry from the Blue Raiders in the remaining two innings, with Owen Nowak adding to the lead in the same frame with an RBI single.
Middle Tennessee continued to pour it on in the seventh, as Brett Rogers lined a ball off the blue batter's eye in center field for a two-run home run. O'Neill cranked his second home run of the night, with another opposite field solo home run.
Nowak picked up two more RBI in the seventh after Tennessee Tech's Jackson Rooker lost a lazy flyball in the lights at Reese Smith Jr. Field with two outs. Clay Badylak and Cooper Clapp scurried to home plate, growing the lead to 10-1.
On the mound, MTSU received a superb start from right-hander Abel Albarran. In his second appearance of the year, the junior college arm struck out three Golden Eagles while limiting the Tennessee Tech offense to just one hit over 4.2 innings.
John Michael Pickens and Landon Sexton followed Albarran out of the bullpen, stringing together 1.0 innings of work to hand it off to the Blue Raiders' right-handed swingman, Landen Burch (W, 2-0).
Burch entered in the sixth with the bases loaded and two outs, striking out Tennessee Tech's Aaron Moffit to strand all three runners. This sparked O'Neill and the rest of the Blue Raiders' late rally through the sixth and seventh.
With no outs in the eighth, O'Neill stepped to the plate with the bases loaded. Rather than sticking to his home run hitting trend, the slugging first baseman beat out a swinging bunt to first base to score the run-rule triggering run. Nathan Brewer scored to send the Blue Raiders into a frenzy, celebrating another mercy rule win.
By the numbers:
3: Middle Tennessee's run-rule victory was it's first win over Tennessee Tech in three seasons.
1.1: Landen Burch threw 1.1 innings of shutout relief to pick up his second winning decision of the season.
9: All nine of the Blue Raiders starters recorded a hit in the win.
The Skipper Speaks (Jerry Meyers)
"We did a nice job, even in the first five innings I thought we did a lot of good things and were outplaying them in all three phases," Meyers said. "... We did a good job of holding them at-bay. It was a really good quality start from Abel Albarran, Burch was really good out of the pen."
Player Perspective (Dean O'Neill)
"Whatever momentum that Tennessee Tech had, because of that strikeout, we took it all back," O'Neill said of Burch's bases-load strikeout. "Burch started that rally, because of the shift of energy right there."
Next up
The Blue Raiders' will continue a 13-game homestand to open 2026, by welcoming Illinois State (5-2) to Murfreesboro for a three-game set over the weekend. Game 1 on Friday is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Burch, Landen (2-0)
L: B. Lewis (0-1)
Batting:
2B: J. Rooker 1
Base Running:
RUNS: J. Jimenez 1
SB: C. Crowson 1
Batting:
2B: Nowak, Owen 1 ; Clapp, Cooper 1
HR: Rogers, Brett 1 ; O'Neill, Dean 2
RBI: Nowak, Owen 3 ; Vondohlen, Brett 1 ; Minnick, Tyler 1 ; Rogers, Brett 2 ; O'Neill, Dean 3 ; Badylak, Clay 1
SH: Clapp, Cooper 1
SF: Minnick, Tyler 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Nowak, Owen 1 ; Brewer, Nathan 1 ; Minnick, Tyler 1 ; Rogers, Brett 1 ; O'Neill, Dean 3 ; Snider, Grant 1 ; Clapp, Cooper 1 ; Badylak, Clay 2
SB: Badylak, Clay 1
HBP: Minnick, Tyler 1
Game Leaders
AB
4
R
3
H
3
RBI
3
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
3
AB
5
R
0
H
2
RBI
1
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
RHP
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OF
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RHP
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INF
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LHP
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OF
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RHP
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