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Box Score 2 MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Middle Tennessee (26-15, 14-7) completed its three-game sweep of the UALR baseball team (21-20, 4-14) by taking both games of Sunday's doubleheader at Reese Smith Jr Field. The Blue Raiders rallied for a 10-8 victory in game one, then hit four home runs and received seven RBI from Blake McDade en route to a 12-9 win in the finale.
McDade went 6-for-9 with four runs scored and eight RBI in the doubleheader to lead the way for Middle Tennessee. He hit two home runs in game two's 12-9 win, including an eighth-inning grand slam as the Blue Raiders overcame a 9-8 deficit.
The Trojans held an 8-6 lead after five and a half innings in the first game as junior Jason Houston and senior Tyson Parks delivered back-to-back RBI singles in the top of the sixth. The Blue Raiders answered with four runs in the bottom half, fueled by a two-run single by Justin Jones, to go on top 10-8.
Reliever Hunter Dawson took the mound after Parks' run-scoring single in the sixth and induced an inning-ending double play from the first batter he faced to escape the jam. Dawson then pitched a scoreless seventh, before giving way to Daniel Palo, who closed out the game with 2.0 scoreless frames by retiring all six batters he faced. The duo combined to hold UALR without a hit over the final 3.2 innings, with Dawson improving to 4-0 on the year and Palo picking up his second save.
McDade, Jones and Justin Guidry each totaled three hits for the Blue Raiders in game one, with Jones driving in a game-high four runs.
UALR junior Casey McCollum drove in a team-high three RBI in the losing effort, hitting a two-run homer to left center in the third - his first of the year. Reliever Garret Graziano (2-2) was tagged with the loss after allowing four hits and two runs over 3.0 innings of work.
The Trojans led late in the second game as well, pushing across two runs in the top of the eighth to take a 9-8 lead. Down by a run, McDade, who had already hit a three-run homer in the fourth, answered with a grand slam in the bottom of the eighth to lead the Blue Raiders to the 12-9 victory.
Guidry worked the final 4.2 innings for the Blue Raiders, holding the Trojans to four hits and two unearned runs to improve to 2-0 on the year. With a runner on base and one out in the ninth, Guidry induced a 4-6-3 double play from the next batter he faced to close out the sweep.
The Trojans outhit the Blue Raiders 14-to-12 in the final game, led by three hits apiece from Parks and junior Brock Feldmann. Houston and Parks hit back-to-back solo homers in the top of the fifth to give the Trojans a 7-6 lead, but MT reclaimed the lead in the bottom half as Justin Miller hit a two-run homer to right. It was the team-leading 11th home run of the season for Houston, and the sixth for Parks.
Junior Travis Henke (1-3) was credited with the loss after surrendering four hits and five runs (four earned) over 3.1 innings.
UALR returns to action Tuesday night when it welcomes Stephen F. Austin to Gary Hogan Field at 6 p.m.
