The Tennessee Tech baseball team has the number one offense in the nation, and it showed Thursday (May 22) afternoon in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament second round. TTU recorded 16 hits and handed Morehead State a 14-2 defeat at the Ballpark at Jackson.
Tech (39-17) moved into the winner's bracket final on Friday (May 23), while the Eagles (29-27) dropped into the consolation bracket. MSU will play at 4 p.m. on Friday in an elimination game against an opponent yet to be determined.
Tech scored four times in the second inning, plated five scores in the fifth and added a three-spot in the seventh. Daniel Miles cracked the tournament's first home run, a three-run blast over the left field fence, in the second. Right-fielder Brandon Thomasson cleared the bases with a three-run double in the fifth.
"We were behind the right-ball right away," Head Coach Mike McGuire said. "In the first two innings we gave up too many free bases and we found ourselves in a 5-0 hole. I thought we hit the ball well today, we just hit too many in the air. I counted that we only hit six balls on the ground all day, and four of these were hits."
TTU pitcher David Hess (9-3) allowed just two hits and struck out six in six innings of work to pick up the win. A trio of relievers combined to surrender just one other run.
MSU starter Matt Anderson (2-8), a sophomore, walked seven and was charged with 10 runs in 4.2 innings for the loss. Juniors Ryan Vansaghi and Dylan Ramage also made appearances. Ramage worked a perfect eighth inning.
Dylan Bosheers led the Golden Eagles with four hits. Miles, Jake Rowland and Jordan Hopkins registered two hits.
Senior designated hitter Bobby Burns delivered a two-out, ninth-inning single up the middle to extend his hitting streak to 19 games. That is the longest of the season for MSU. Burns has now hit in 31 of his last 32 games. Four other Eagles tallied the other four hits.
"We have been resilient all year," McGuire said. "It really doesn't matter who we play Friday. We know how to forgot the bad games and come back to play well. It's a must win obviously, but we have been in these types of games a lot this season."
