Top seed Middle Tennessee rolls in opener

TROY — Top-seeded Middle Tennessee jumped to a fast start in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament.

Blake McDade hit a two-run double down the left field line, highlighting a four-run first inning to help send the Blue Raiders (39-15) to a 13-2 opening round victory over Florida Atlantic.

Left-hander Kenny Roberts (9-1), staked to the early lead that grew to six runs in the third inning, scattered seven hits and struck out just one batter.

“An early lead is always big — especially four runs in the first,” said Roberts, crediting his offense. “You can just come out there and throw strikes. It’s so
much easier when they do that. They’ve done a great job of that this year.”

Third baseman Rawley Bishop went 4-for-5 with three runs scored and an RBI for the Blue Raiders, who were the Sun Belt co-champions with Western
Kentucky with a 21-8 record. Nathan Hines and McDade each had three hits and three RBIs in the victory. Middle scored four in the bottom of the seventh to
end the game on the 10-run rule.

“To get off to a four-run first inning in the first game of the tournament was a great advantage,” Blue Raiders head coach Steve Peterson said. “It’s a great
opportunity to relax your players. That was huge.”

Florida Atlantic coach John McCormack said the game got away from his team when they failed to make plays they ordinarily would make. An error on a
double-play grounder came early in the first inning. A two-out bloop double that fell in front of left fielder Colby Gratton, who initially broke back toward the
warning track, extended the third inning. Hines made the Owls pay with a two-run double that made it 6-0.

“A team like that, you have to limit their opportunities,” McCormack said. “To their credit, they capitalized on our mistakes. But to win a conference tournament
you’ve got to make some big plays. We told our guys all week that a team that good, you have to make them beat you. We made enough mistakes that we
also helped beat ourselves today.”

FAU (29-25) goes to the losers’ bracket and will play Florida International today at 9 a.m. Owls catcher Mike Albaladejo had three of his team’s seven hits.

Middle never let up. The Raiders scored four in the first, two in the third, one in the fourth, two in the sixth and four in the seventh.

“We had a few hits that we strung together and were able to put up a few good innings,” Hines said.

That made Roberts’ job easier.

“Kenny was very good,” Peterson said. “It was hard for him to keep his rhythm because we had such long offensive innings. Sometimes, mentally, knowing
you’ve got to go back out and you’ve got a big lead is tough. You don’t want to do anything to blow it.”

“We had the lead. I was trying to keep the pitch count down and get them to swing early (in the count)” said Roberts, who threw only 95 pitches.

Middle Tennessee plays Louisiana-Lafayette today at 4 p.m. The Ragin’ Cajuns swept Middle in the regular season.

“Using only one pitcher (in the opener) is very, very important,” said Peterson, who didn’t name his starter. “Everyone assumes I’ll throw Bryce Brentz, but I
honestly haven’t made that decision.”