Rutherford Times

Middle Tennessee baseball fought back late, but could not overcome a tough seventh inning against Belmont, dropping the midweek contest 10-7 at Reese Smith Jr. Field on Tuesday afternoon.  

 

The Blue Raiders (6-3) outhit the Bruins (3-6) over the course of the game, but could not always find the timely hit, leaving 12 runners on base. On the mound, early walks and hit batsmen came back to bite MTSU, as five of Belmont's free baserunners came around the score, accounting for half of the Bruins' runs.  

 

Nowhere was this more acute than in the top of the seventh, when two lead-off walks were immediately plated on a three-run home run, giving Belmont a 7-4 lead in a game that had been evenly played all afternoon. Two more runs would score to end the inning on an RBI-double, including one base runner that reached base via walk, to stretch the lead to 9-4.  

 

MTSU was able to rally back with a two-run homer from Jeremiah Boyd in the bottom of the seventh, putting the Blue Raiders within striking distance and plated two more in the top of the ninth, but ultimately could not complete the comeback when a rocket off the bat of tying-run Eston Snider found a glove in left-center field to end the game.  

 

By the Numbers  

 

4: Walks for Jeremiah Boyd on Tuesday. The graduate transfer reached base every time he came up to bat, going 1-for-1 with a 2-run home run in his only at-bat of the afternoon, scoring two of MTSU's seven runs.  

 

3: Stolen bases for Brett Coker. The shortstop took advantage of his wheels throughout the night, but ultimately failed to come around to score for the Blue Raiders.  

 

3-for-4: JT Mabry's day at the dish, pushing the second baseman's average to .406 early on in the 2023 season.  

 

Blue Raider Notes  

 

Boyd has recorded a hit in each game this season.Snider has reached base in all games in 2023. The Blue Raiders have hit a home run in all but one game this year. Junior Tatsunori Negishi made his 2023 debut as a pinch hitter in the ninth, hitting a double to score Mabry from second base. 

 

The Skipper Speaks  

 

"It's one of those things where you try to win the game no matter what. If it's sloppy, you try put yourself in position. If you get behind, however you got behind, whether they earned it or you gave them too much, which I felt it was more of the latter (today), you try to get the opportunity to win it in the ninth, bring the tying run to the plate. We were able to get to that point, but it shouldn't come to that," said head coach Jerry Meyers. 

 

Player's Perspective – Jeremiah Boyd 

 

"One of the things we always talk about in the fall was two-out hits, driving in runs with two outs and I think we've been pretty good at it. Baseball is a hard game, we're going to have games like this where we leave guys on base. It's because of our approach that we're going to get guys on base, we've just got to stay locked into our approaches and that's what will drive runs in.  

  

"We just talked about it with Coach Nichols, we get it situations where we've got runners on second and third, we've got to stay with our approach, we can't get out of them. Because as soon as we do, we get tough outs, we get guys where we miss opportunities, and it happened tonight."

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