Middle Tennessee takes two to stay alive

TROY — Middle Tennessee turned to its closer in a strange situation in Friday night’s Sun Belt Conference Tournament game against Louisiana-Lafayette.

Blue Raiders coach Steve Peterson had seen his team battle back from 4-0 and 7-3 deficits. Facing elimination against the nemesis Ragin’ Cajuns, Peterson brought in Coty Woods to stop the bleeding in the sixth inning.

Woods entered after Nick Montgomery, the third Middle Tennessee pitcher, had just given up a sacrifice fly that put the Cajuns back up 8-7 with runners on second and third.

Woods’ strikeout not only ended the threat, but it gave his teammates a huge lift that they immediately turned into a big inning.
The Raiders sent 13 batters to the plate and exploded for eight runs in the seventh. They cruised to a 17-8 victory that forced another game against Louisiana today. The winner earns a spot in the championship game.

The final game of Friday’s schedule between Louisiana-Monroe and Western Kentucky was postponed by rain.
That game will be played today at 9 a.m., followed by Middle Tennessee vs. Louisiana.

If ULM beats Western Kentucky, the championship game may be moved to Sunday to prevent a team from playing three games in one day. WKU, seeded second, is unbeaten in the tournament. ULM has a loss and would be eliminated if the Hilltoppers win the morning game.

Peterson said he took a page out of former Cardinal manager Whitey Herzog’s playbook by calling on Woods.

“At that point in the game, I had to close,” he said. “I had no idea we’d put up an eight-run inning.”

But he also said his team is noticeably more comfortable when Woods, who also pitched the seventh inning, is in the game.
“There’s a tremendous amount of confidence that our team has in Coty Woods,” Peterson said. “He’s one of the top closers in the country — 13, 14 saves. They’re upset when I’ve got to take him out. ... But I told him his limits. I know he’ll be fine tomorrow.”

Nathan Hines led the Middle Tennessee offense, which found its rhythm after struggling early. Hines was 4-for-6 with a home run and three doubles. He scored two runs and drove in four.

“I’m just going up there, see the ball, hit the ball,” said the senior, who set school career and single-season records for doubles.
Hines said he was finally glad to get a win over the Cajuns, who swept them in the regular season and who sent them to the losers’ bracket on Thursday.

“Coach Pete told us it was like a three-game series,” Hines said. “They won the first one. If we want to win the series, we had to win this one.”

It looked early like Louisiana would continue its dominance over Middle Tennessee. Alex Fuselier’s two-run double highlighted a four-run second inning. Even after Middle crawled back to 4-3, the Cajuns got a two-run homer from Scott Hawkins and an RBI triple by Kyle Olasin to make it 7-3 in the fifth.

But the Raiders chased Louisiana starter Michael Cook and two other pitchers in a four-run sixth that tied the game. Hines hit a homer and Taylor Dennis had a two-run single in the inning.

Louisiana took its last lead in the sixth when Greg Fontenot’s sacrifice fly scored Fuselier. But Woods prevented further damage.
Middle Tennessee started the pivotal seventh with two doubles, a walk and two more doubles off Gregory Harmon, the second of six Louisiana pitchers.

Hines doubled twice in the inning, driving in a run with the first and two more with the second. Rawley Bishop doubled and singled in the inning and went 3-for-5.

Bryce Brentz, the Sun Belt Player of the Year, hit his 28th home run of the season in the fourth inning to drive in the first two Middle Tennessee runs.

“We’re an offensive club. We can hit,” Peterson said. “With the wind blowing out and the short wall in right, I know we’re going to get something going. It’s just, can we stop the opposition? That’s the whole thing. Can we stop them?”

Middle Tennessee 12, Florida Atlantic 7: The Blue Raiders advanced to the afternoon showdown with Louisiana after outslugging FAU in the 9 a.m. game.

The teams combined for 26 hits against seven pitchers in the elimination game.

The top-seeded Blue Raiders started quickly, scoring four runs — three unearned — off Adam Morrison (3-3) in the bottom of the first inning. Ben Darlington doubled in a run and scored on Drew Robertson’s double later in the inning.

FAU answered with three runs in the top of the third. Three straight hits loaded the bases with nobody out. A groundout scored one run and FAU catcher Mike Albaladejo, who went 3-for-3, doubled in two runs to cut it to 4-3.

But Raiders starter Chad Edwards (8-1) got two ground balls to get out of the inning. By the time the Owls scored again in the seventh inning, Middle Tennessee’s offense had opened an 8-3 advantage.

Nathan Hines, Bryce Brentz, Rawley Bishop and Blake McDade each had two hits for Middle Tennessee, which scored single runs in the third and fifth innings and two runs each in the fourth, seventh and eighth. Zach Dean’s two-run pinch hit homer gave the Raiders a 10-4 lead after seven innings.

Florida Atlantic’s Tom Hatcher, Nick DelGuidice and Anthony Mesa had two hits each.

The Raiders’ Jud Stoltz and Brett Smalley pitched the last three innings to seal the victory.
FAU, seeded eighth in the tournament, finished its season at 30-26.