COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Casanova Donaldson’s .200
batting average entering Wednesday’s game may as well have
been an April fools joke on ETSU, as his average ballooned to .360
before the night was through. The sophomore tied a school record,
going 5-for-5 from the plate, as the Tennessee Tech baseball team
lit up the scoreboard for 15 runs in Tech’s 15-7 win over the
Bucs.
However, if it wasn’t for a late lineup change by Tech head
coach Matt Bragga, things may have gone differently for the Golden
Eagles. Less than a half-hour before game-time, Bragga put
Donaldson into the ninth spot in the starting lineup, instead of
giving him the day off. “I didn’t even know I was going
to play, and then last minute coach said ‘Cass, you’re
in center field,’” Donaldson said. “And I was
like ‘ok coach, I’ll do that.’”
And Donaldson was ready when his number was called.
“Coach has prepared us to win the at bat every time you come
to the plate, and that’s what I try to do every
night.”
“Casanova was hitting like that all intersquad season, all of
January and into February,” Bragga said. “He
hasn’t been playing everyday, so sometimes it’s hard to
get into that rhythm, but he’s been swinging the bat really
well lately, and obviously he got into that rhythm
tonight.”
The Golden Eagles (12-10, 0-5) also got help from Alex Henry and
Evan Webb, who each went 3-for-5 with a home run and two RBIs.
Sophomore Chad Oberacker, who got the win as Tech’s pitcher,
also went 3-for-5, and finished with an RBI. Sophomore A.J.
Kirby-Jones and freshman Ben Burgess put together multi-hit games
as well, as Kirby-Jones went 2-for-4 with two RBIs and Burgess went
2-for-5 with three RBIs.
“I think our guys just did a good job of sitting back
tonight, and that is an important part of hitting,” Bragga
said. “It wasn’t anything special that we did, we
didn’t do anything different, it’s just that our guys
did a better job tonight.”
Tech 15 runs set a new high for the Golden Eagles this season, and
couldn’t have come at a better time. Tech has struggled to
score runs recently, averaging just over three runs per game in its
last seven contests.
“It’s really big to put up a 15-spot,” Bragga
said. “It’s been a while since we’ve scored
double-digits, and it’s great to see our offense do that. We
have a good offense, it’s just a matter of getting it
going.”
The Golden Eagles were able to get on the board early, as Henry hit
a leadoff home run in the first inning off former Cookeville High
School standout Bo Reeder in the first inning. The score stayed 1-0
until the bottom of the fourth, when Webb hit a solo homer off
Reeder. Ironically, Webb was mistakenly wearing Henry’s
number-13 jersey, while Henry wore the jersey of pitcher Adam
Liberatore, who did not play.
The bottom of the fifth is when the Tech bats really got going.
Donaldson led off the inning with a double to center field, and
scored on Henry’s single on the next play. Tech’s first
five batter of the inning all hit safely before Reeder was replaced
by Bo Burton. But Burton couldn’t get out of a two-out jam,
as Tech piled on four more hits in the innings. The Golden Eagles
tallied eight runs in the frame, and three Tech batters, Donaldson,
Henry and Oberacker each had two hits, as Tech took a 10-0
advantage.
The Bucs got one run back in the seventh, as Derek Trent hit an RBI
single up the middle that scored Garrett May, who had reached on an
error. But Tech responded by exploding for five more runs in the
bottom of the inning. After Tech’s first two batters in the
seventh inning struck out, Donaldson’s single sparked a
two-out, five-run rally, highlighted by Kirby-Jones’ double
to center field that scored two runs.
Oberacker pitched six shutout innings, while striking out seven
ETSU batters and allowing just three hits in the win.
Tech has two days off before taking the road for a three-game
series at Morehead State in Ohio Valley Conference action. The
Golden Eagles have the leagues’ toughest two teams behind
them, as Southeast Missouri and Eastern Illinois, who met in last
years’ OVC title game are a combined 11-0 in conference play
this season.
“As of right now I think we’re a new team,”
Donaldson said. “We’ve got our head on straight.
We’re ready for the conference now, and we will come out on
top.”