Blue Raider bats pound SLU for sweep
HAMMOND, La. — On a day when the pitching staff struggled a bit, the Middle Tennessee offense covered for its brethren, pounding out 16 hits en route to a 14-8 victory and series sweep of Southeastern Louisiana Sunday at Alumni Field.
The Blue Raiders broke a 2-2 tie with three runs in the fifth and added four-run innings in the seventh and ninth to post the first nonconference road sweep since March 18-20, 1995, at UAB, and the first series road sweep of any sort since April 13-15, 2001, at Arkansas-Little Rock.
Five players in the lineup had multiple hits, including the top three in the order — Eric McNamee, Jeff Beachum and Shane Kemp — all collecting three hits apiece. Brett Carroll and Chase Eakes both had a pair of hits, while McNamee and Beachum each scored three times and Kemp drove in four runs.
Blue Raider starter Steve Kline worked just 3.2 innings, allowing two runs on four hits but working out of a tough jam in the third. He gave way to Danny Borne (1-0), who worked 2.1 hitless innings to get the victory, striking out two.
The staff did surrender runs in the seventh and ninth and SLU had the tying run on deck in the eighth, forcing Blue Raider head coach Steve Peterson to bring in closer Chase Swing for the second time in two days. Swing got the last four outs to pick up his third save of the year, allowing two runs, one earned, with three strikeouts.
“I was very impressed today. We swung the bats and kept pressure on [SLU],” Peterson said. “We moved runners and executed and went the other way. Offensively this was the best day we’ve swung the bats this season.”
Peterson said Kline had good stuff but had trouble finding the strike zone consistently.
“Steve had good stuff today but really lost command once he got in the stretch. With the way the game was going, I didn’t want to extend anyone on the staff. Danny came in and did a good job and we helped out the pitching staff with the way we swung the bats.”
Middle Tennessee continues its eight-game road swing against Lipscomb on Tuesday and Belmont on Wednesday in Nashville. Tuesday’s first pitch at Dugan Field is at 2 p.m, with Wednesday’s contest starting at 3 p.m. at Greer Stadium. The Blue Raiders return home next weekend to face 2003 College World Series participant Southwest Missouri State in a three-game series starting Friday at Reese Smith Field.