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7
Western Illinois WIU 0-2
11
Winner Middle Tennessee MT 2-0
Western Illinois WIU
0-2
7
Final
11
Middle Tennessee MT
2-0
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Western Illinois WIU 0 1 0 0 1 1 3 0 1 7 15 1
Middle Tennessee MT 1 3 2 2 0 0 2 1 X 11 10 0

W: HOLCOMBE, Tyler (1-0) L: Drake, Javin (0-1)

Game Recap: Baseball |

Leathernecks Can’t Overcome Early Deficit at MTSU

WIU recorded six runs late in the game but couldn’t overcome an early deficit at MTSU

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – Western Illinois baseball battled through to the end, tallying six runs late in the game, but couldn't overcome an early deficit in its 11-7 setback at Middle Tennessee State Sunday.
 
Blue Raider pitcher Andy Rivera retired four of the first six batters he faced on strikeouts, before Dillon Sears stepped up to the plate. The Leathernecks' starting third baseman recorded the team's first RBI of the year, tying things at 1-1, with a single to right field.
 
The stalemate lasted through the next inning.
 
On his very first at-bat, LA Woodard found a gap in right field and stretched the hit for a leadoff triple. A sacrifice fly allowed him to score MTSU's first run of the game, and in the next inning, he pushed a pair across the plate with a 2-RBI single to center field.
 
MTSU held a 6-1 edge at the end of the third after Aaron Aucker's two-run homer.  
 
The Blue Raiders loaded the bases in the second inning, and Western did the same at the top of the sixth.

CJ Schaeffer, Grant Hannant and Steve McShane opened the frame with singles, and Deion Thompson was credited with an RBI on a fielder's choice. The effort marked back-to-back innings where the Leathernecks scored a run as Wyatt Meyer recorded a two-out, RBI-single in the fifth.
 
The bottom of Western's order, Schaeffer and Hannant, and its leadoff hitter McShane helped to catalyze the offense. The visitors saw a Leatherneck standing on each square in the seventh inning, and the earlier three were instrumental in the three-run inning that pulled WIU within two, 8-6. Schaeffer reached on a fielder's choice and was credited with an RBI, McShane drew a walk to load the bases, and Hannant, singling to right field at the start of the inning, scored on a balk. The trio finished the day with three hits each. 
 
Right-handed pitcher Javin Drake (0-1) received the start and surrendered five hits and six runs in two innings. Jimmy Perkins took over in the third and pitched four complete innings, allowing three hits, four runs, and striking out four.
 
Thompson recorded a game-high two RBIs.
 
With inclement weather altering the series, game three will be played Sunday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. as the latter half of a doubleheader.
 
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