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MOBILE, Ala. – Middle Tennessee scored six runs in the top of the eighth inning to defeat the University of South Alabama baseball team 8-2 Saturday at Stanky Field.

The Blue Raiders tied the game 2-2 in the top of the seventh with a solo home run before a six-run eighth inning secured the win, which evened the series at one game apiece.

NEXT UP
South Alabama will return to action Sunday when it hosts Middle Tennessee in the rubber match at 1 p.m. at Stanky Field. 

GAME FACTS
- USA loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the fourth on a one-out single by Reid Powers, two-out bunt single by Hunter Stokes and a walk by Cameron Tissue. But Middle Tennessee left-hander Peyton Wigginton recorded an inning-ending strikeout of Alden Davis to escape the jam and preserve a scoreless tie.
- Middle Tennessee scored the game's first run in the top of the fifth on a two-out RBI single up the middle by JT Mabry that scored Mark Engel, who reached on a walk to lead off the inning.
- USA took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the sixth inning when Hunter Stokes lifted a 1-1 pitch from Wigginton over the right field wall for a two-out, two-run home run that scored Santi Montiel, who reached on a two-out walk. 
- The Blue Raiders answered to tie the game 2-2 in the top of the seventh on a leadoff solo home run to left field by Jake Hagenow. 
- Middle Tennessee loaded the bases with one out in the top of the eighth on a single by JT Mabry, walk by DJ Wright and a one-out walk by Brett Coker. Brycen Thomas followed with a walk to score Mabry for a 3-2 Blue Raider lead. Hagenow then delivered a one-out, two-run double to right center field for a 5-2 MT advantage. Luke Vinson reached on a fielding error by Montiel on a grounder to shortstop that allowed Thomas to score for a 6-2 lead. Fausto Lopez followed with a two-out, two-run single up the middle to extend the Blue Raider lead to 8-2.  

NOTES
- Stokes recorded his first career stolen base in the bottom of the second inning.
- Powers extended his on-base streak to six games with a one-out single to right field in the bottom of the fourth. 
- Cameron Tissue extended his on-base streak to five games with a two-out walk in the bottom of the fourth, and extended his hitting streak to five games with a leadoff single to right field in the top of the ninth. 
- Montiel extended his on-base streak to 14 games, dating back to last year, with a two-out walk in the bottom of the sixth.
- Jaguar left-handed starter Tyler Lehrmann tied his career high in innings pitched with six, and allowed two runs on four hits with six strikeouts and three walks without factoring in the decision while logging a quality start.
- Stokes finished 3-for-4 with one home run, two RBIs and one run scored, and Sandle added three hits to lead the Jaguar offense.

QUOTES
Head Coach Mark Calvi 
- On Tyler Lehrmann:
"(Tyler) Lehrmann was good. He had too many walks in there, but he competed for us and gave us a chance. It was a quality start. I will take six innings and two runs (allowed) every time. We got beat the last three innings. We didn't win the leverage innings, and we got outplayed. I tip my hat to Middle Tennessee, they pitched and played better than we did. Every inning counts, but especially the last three innings. We had a couple of breakdowns in the last three (innings) early in this year, and it's something we need to clean up moving forward. If we're going to win this league and be a postseason club, that is something we need to do much better; we need to play the last nine outs better of some of these games"

- On Sunday's rubber match:
"Thus far we have pitched extremely well, and I always feel good with (JoJo) Booker on the mound. He needs to be a really good version of himself, which he is very capable of doing. They have some strong, big-swing right-handed hitters who try to pull, and JoJo has a good slider and needs to throw his fastball to both sides of the plate and make his sliders count. The bottom line with him is limiting free passes. Make them hit their way on base. We did not do a good job of getting our leadoff man on base. We need to do a better job of getting on offensively, and getting our leadoff outs. We didn't play good enough baseball today, and we lost."

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