HOUSTON – No. 7 seed Middle Tennessee defeated No. 6 seed Louisiana Tech 7-6 in the second game of day two of the 2023 Conference USA Baseball Championship on Thursday afternoon from Reckling Park in Houston on the campus of Rice University.
 
Middle Tennessee seized an early 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning, courtesy of an RBI double to left by DJ Wright and an RBI fielder’s choice by Jackson Galloway.
 
The Blue Raiders extended their lead in the top of the fourth with an RBI single back up the middle by Luke Vinson to push their advantage to 3-0.
 
Louisiana Tech got on the board to cut the lead to 3-1 in the bottom half of the fourth thanks to a Walker Burchfield solo shot to left-center, his second home run of the tournament in as many games.
 
The Bulldogs threatened to potentially tie things up in the bottom of the sixth, but were unable to push any runs across with a pair in scoring position, but Middle Tennessee reliever Jaden Hamm was able to get out of the jam and the Blue Raiders maintained their 3-1 lead.
 
MTSU catcher Briggs Rutter then added some insurance in the top of the eighth after launching a solo blast down the line in left. Rutter finished 2-for-4 with the home run, an RBI and a walk. The Blue Raiders cashed in with two more runs thanks to a two-out, two-run triple by Brett Coker to push the advantage to 6-1.
 
They added an important additional run in the top of the ninth to make it 7-1. Louisiana Tech would not go down quietly, however. Dalton Davis hit a two-run ground-rule double with the bases loaded to cut it to 7-3, which was followed immediately by a mammoth three-run shot over the national champions sign in right by Ethan Bates to make it 7-6. Both Burchfield and Brody Drost flew out to the warning track for the final two outs to secure MTSU’s win.
 
Middle Tennessee moves on to Saturday to face the winner of Friday afternoon’s game between Charlotte and LA Tech. The Bulldogs face the 49ers in an elimination game at 2 p.m. CT on Friday.