The Tech baseball team has experienced a week of ups and downs. Following a 10-1 defeat at the hands of the Southeastern Conference’s Tennessee Volunteers on Tuesday, the Golden Eagles bounced back to easily handle the Middle Tennessee State University Blue Raiders 10-3 on Wednesday.
On a rainy and windy night, the Volunteers started the game with an early run.
The Golden Eagles answered quickly. Brandon Thomasson’s double down the left field line allowed Jake Rowland to score. After one, the score was tied 1-1.
The deadlock would continue until the top of fourth, when Tennessee’s Christin Stewart blasted a homerun to right center field. Two runs scored off of Stewart’s homer.
The Volunteers added two more runs in the seventh, scoring off a Vincent Jackson single and a fielder’s choice. The Golden Eagles chances were dashed in the top of the ninth when an error and four hits allowed five more Volunteer runs.
Junior Jacob Honea began the night pitching for the Golden Eagles. He lasted four innings and gave up five hits, two earned runs and one home run while facing 17 batters. He was also handed a loss.
Pitchers Evan Frailiex, Jeb Scoggins and Vann Boyce finished out the game.
Outfielder Jake Rowland had the best stats at the plate for Tech. Rowland went 2-4 and scored Tech’s only run. Brandon Thomasson and Dylan Bosheers also had hits for the Golden Eagles.
Wednesday’s contest with MTSU gave the Golden Eagles a chance to redeem themselves for the loss only 24 hours prior.
Tech had defeated the Blue Raiders 9-5 earlier in the season and was looking for its first season series sweep of MTSU since 1998.
Both teams had early offensive success. Tech’s first score was a groundout tag by senior Zach Zarzour.
In the second inning, junior David Allen singled to left field. Dylan Bosheers took advantage and was able to score Tech’s second run.
MTSU would score two runs in its next at bat and regained the advantage 3-2. This would be the Blue Raiders’ last lead.
Zach Stephens began the offensive explosion for the Golden Eagles as he scored on Brandon Thomasson’s sacrifice fly.
Stephens would strike again with a historic home run in the bottom of the fifth inning. This solo shot marked Stephens’ 52nd homer of his career. It made him the new record holder for the most career home runs ever hit by a Tennessee Tech player. The previous record holder was A.J Kirby- Jones.
Brandon Thomasson, Jordan Hopkins and David Allen added three doubles and five RBIs to the inning giving the Golden Eagles a 9-3 lead at the end of the fifth.
Thomasson would finish Tech’s scoring with a homerun of his own in the bottom of the seventh.
Tech utilized five pitchers in the team’s0 victory: John Gora, Cain Sloan, Kyle Keatts, Stanton Taylor, and Justin Alexander. Sloan was credited with the win.
The Golden Eagles are in action again today. Tech begins a weekend series at Ohio Valley Conference rival Eastern Illinois at 3 p.m. Tech’s current OVC record sits at 9-6, third in the conference. Eastern Illinois is near the bottom of the conference with a 4-8 conference record.
Both teams will be looking to improve their conference records in the OVC as their schedules begin to come to an end. Both weekend games will start at 1 p.m.
