February 24, 2009

Tech visits Middle Tennessee before heading to The Citadel Tournament

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- After playing a four-game weekend series against Saint Peters College, in which several Golden Eagles posted stellar performances, the Tennessee Tech baseball team will take its show on the road.

Tech (3-1) will visit a Middle Tennessee State (3-0) team on Wednesday that was named the CollegeBaseballInsider.com national team of the week.

The Golden Eagles opened the season by taking three out of four games from SPC. In the opener, senior lefty Adam Liberatore pitched seven shutout innings, allowing just four hits while striking out nine batters.

On the offensive side, senior third baseman Evan Webb hit .533 (8-for-15) for the weekend, including two home runs in Tech’s 12-6 win in the third game of the series.

Both players received first-place votes for Ohio Valley Conference weekly honors, Webb for Player of the Week, and Liberatore for Pitcher of the Week.

“Those guys were absolutely fantastic,” head coach Matt Bragga said. “They did everything we could ask of them and more. For Adam to come in and give us a seven-inning no-run performance, we’ll take that every time. And Evan is just such a solid player, and will continue to be steady.”

The awards were swept by a pair of Southeast Missouri players after SEMO took two out of three games from nationally ranked Alabama.

Middle Tennessee is coming off a three-game sweep of Missouri State, who was ranked No. 19 in Ping!Baseball’s preseason poll heading into the series.

“I’m glad we get to play a team coming off such a good weekend,” Bragga said.

Tech will host the Blue Raiders in the return game on March 25.

After Tech’s match-up with MTSU, the Golden Eagles will travel to Charleston, S.C. for The Citadel Memorial Shootout Feb. 27-March 1, where they will face Marshall (2-2), The Citadel (1-3) and Radford (1-2).

“It will be a really fun tournament,” Bragga said. “I know our guys are really looking forward to it. Playing those different teams gives you an understanding of where you are."