Brewer's 2 homer day, King's 8 strikeouts lead the way in Blue Raider win

Saturday, April 25

Huntsville, TX

2 p.m.

Middle Tennessee

22-21, 9-11

Sam Houston

19-24, 8-12

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Middle Tennessee	0	0	0	2	4	1	0	0	5	12	16	0
Sam Houston	2	0	0	3	1	0	0	0	2	8	10	1

4/25/2026 6:25:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

By: Willie Phaler, MTSU Athletic Communications

HUNTSVILLE, Texas- Middle Tennessee baseball (22-21, 9-11 CUSA) rode a five-home run day, including two from left fielder Nathan Brewer, to take down Sam Houston (18-24, 8-12 CUSA) 12-6 on Saturday afternoon.

Brewer's two home runs spearheaded a big offensive effort by the Blue Raiders, including a five-run ninth inning. The Murfreesboro, Tennessee native hit his second homer of the game off the left field foul pole, while Layne Akers followed it up with a solo shot off the scoreboard in left-center field.

Tyler Minnick topped off the big ninth inning with a two-run single, picking up his third and fourth RBIs of the night to make it a 12-6 ball game. Minnick homered earlier in the contest, picking up his eighth round-tripper of the year in the fifth inning.

Before the bats got hot late, Middle Tennessee was riding the hot hand on the mound in right-hander Gavin King (W, 3-2). One of the Blue Raiders best high-leverage arms, King entered in the fifth inning with the score tied at 6-6.

King was able to thrive in this situation, providing 4.1 innings of work and silencing the Bearkat bats to just two runs on a home run in the bottom of the ninth. The 6-foot-7 righty struck out 8 batters for the second time this season, tying his career high.

Outside of King, Middle Tennessee only needed to utilize two arms. Left-hander Chandler Alderman made the start, going 4.0 innings of five run ball, while Bryant Beranek threw to the tune of one run over 0.2 innings pitched.

The Blue Raiders relied on the long ball throughout the afternoon, tying the ball game at 2-2 in the fourth after Brewer hit his first homer of the night out towards the batter's eye in centerfield.

Middle Tennessee was able to take the lead in the fifth after Minnick's two-run homer paired with a Cooper Clapp RBI double and a solo home run from Dean O'Neill.

After Sam Houston tied it at six in the bottom half of the fifth, Owen Nowak took the lead right back with an RBI single back up the middle, setting the stage for the rest of King's outing and the offense's late heroics.

By the Numbers:

5: Today's five home runs is the most by the Blue Raiders in a game since March 22, 2024 against Liberty. Tyler Minnick, Layne Akers, Dean O'Neill and Nathan Brewer contributed to the longball parade.

47: After today's eight strikeout effort, Gavin King is up to 47 strikeouts on the season.

2: Nathan Brewer picked up his second career multi-home run game, after hitting two against FIU on March 22, 2025.

Player Perspective (Nathan Brewer)

"I think we just flipped a switch as an offense," Brewer said. "I think we really just decided to just have more fun instead of making it feel like a job, you know."

"On the first [home run], the at-bat before he went fastball up in the zone first pitch," Brewer said. "So I was sitting on that pitch and he threw it again."

Player Perspective (Gavin King)

"Really my adjustment is attack the bottom and let my offspeed do what it does," King said. "With the cutter, I felt like I was really effective, throwing it at the bottom half of the zone off of the fastball. It has a little more depth. So they see fastball and the velo on the cutter has been tremendous with getting a lot of swing and miss out of it this year."

Next up

The Blue Raiders and Bearkats will meet up for the series rubber match tomorrow at 12 p.m. CT. The game will be televised on ESPN+, with a radio broadcast and stream with Dylan Simmons on WGNS and the Blue Raider Network.