Skip To Main Content

Upcoming Events and Recent Results

Western Illinois University Athletics

CJ Shaeffer
Brent Beerends
0
Western Illinois WIU 0-1
2
Winner Middle Tennessee MT 1-0
Western Illinois WIU
0-1
0
Final
2
Middle Tennessee MT
1-0
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Western Illinois WIU 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 2
Middle Tennessee MT 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 2 4 0

W: LESTER, Carson (1-0) L: Koch, Ian (0-1) S: HUFF, Drew (1)

Game Recap: Baseball | | WIU Athletic Communications

Two Runs Separate WIU & MTSU on Opening Day

MTSU defeated WIU, 2-0, on Opening Day.

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – The Western Illinois and Middle Tennessee State baseball teams met at the Reese Smith Jr. Field Friday afternoon for Opening Day of the 2018 season, and the home side walked away with the victory, 2-0.
 
The Leathernecks opened their year with three straight walks, but were unable to bring anyone across home plate. Steve McShane was called out at home on a play between the catcher and third baseman, before a pair of strikeouts closed the inning.
 
Western continued to get the better of MTSU pitcher Jake Wyrick through the next two innings, with two runners advancing to third base; however, the game remained scoreless. 

"We had an opportunity to blow that game open in the first two innings -  push one or two across there and you can breathe a little bit," said head coach Ryan Brownlee. "That's something that we will get better at. We just got to make sure we're forcing the pitcher to be in the strike zone with runners in scoring position." 
 
 The Blue Raiders broke the stalemate in the fifth inning.
 
Blake Benefield struck out swinging to start the frame, but reached base on a wild pitch. He made his way to third base on a single and another wild pitch, and scored on a sacrifice fly by Brett Stratinsky.
 
MTSU doubled its advantage in the next inning when the Leathernecks attempted to catch Austin Dennis stealing second base. He was successful in his effort, and a pair of throwing errors allowed him to score.  
 
Ian Koch pitched six innings on the day, allowing two runs, one earned, on three hits. He also matched his career-high in strikeouts at seven.

"Middle [Tennessee State] is a pretty aggressive team, and you want to try to take that away from them at times," continued Brownlee. "Ian, Pete [Minella] and [Colan] Borchers all did a really good job of executing pitches, especially two-strike pitches, which is why our strikeout totals were up. All three of those guys did a good job. When they got into trouble, they worked around it. They are veteran pitchers.
 
"Our infield defense was really good for being out in the dirt for the first time, but we have to execute a little bit better – hitting the cutoff man and playing catch behind the dish. That's all stuff that's going to get better. We're really athletic defensively."

Pete Minella and Colan Borchers came on in relief, yielding just one hit. Borchers recorded three strikeouts in 1.1 innings pitched, while four Leathernecks tallied singles in Mitch Ellis, Johnathan Fleek, Bailey Montgomery, and Dave Dobrinich.
 
Western continues its three-game road swing in Murfreesboro Saturday. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m.
 
Print Friendly Version