Upper Cumberland Times

A quick start offensively and solid showing all around on the mound lifted the Tennessee Tech baseball team to a big win over in-state rival Lipscomb Tuesday afternoon, as the Golden Eagles (3-5) bested the Bisons (5-3) at Quillen Field and Bush Stadium at the Averitt Express Baseball Complex, 10-5.

Starting pitcher Tyler Zarella set the tone out of the gate for the purple and gold, getting a quick zero on the scoreboard to set up the Tech bats for early success. The right-hander went on to toss five innings in picking up his first win with the Golden Eagles, striking out three and allowing four runs on four hits. He held the Bisons scoreless in three frames, including the opening two.

With Zarella providing early confidence for the offense, the purple and gold went to work with the sticks. Following a pair of hard-hit outs, the Golden Eagles rallied in the frame with right fielder Theo Bryant IV kicking things off with a double to right-center field.

Second baseman Eddie Garza followed, peppering an RBI single through the left side, advancing to second base on the throw home, and moving up to third on a throwing error by the Lipscomb catcher. Veteran John Dyer came through with an impressive 10-pitch walk, setting up senior Peyton Mills for the big swing.

The Tech third baseman turned on a 1-0 offering, blasting a three-run home run to left-center field for his first round-tripper in the purple and gold. The shot gave the Cookeville crew a 4-0 lead.

Lipscomb got one run back in the third, picking up a solo dinger of its own, but the Golden Eagles stomped down on the gas once they reached the fourth.

Mills opened the frame with a double that found no man's land in shallow center field. Center fielder Austin Turner reached on a fielder's choice on a sacrifice bunt, but Mills slid in safely to third, putting a pair on with no outs. Mills then scored later in the next at-bat after a pick-off attempt by the Lipscomb hurler got away from the first baseman.

Designated hitter Preston Ford followed it up with a base knock to shortstop and both he and Turner advanced a spot on the base paths behind shortstop Nick Spardone's sac bunt on the next play. A pitching change for the Bisons did little to quell the Tech attack, as left fielder Tanner Shiver blooped a base hit to center field for an RBI and 6-1 lead.

Not to be outdone, catcher Hayden Gilliland put a massive dent in the scoreboard for the purple and gold four pitchers later, absolutely pulverizing a 3-1 pitch to right-center field for a three-run bomb. It marked his first tank of the 2023 campaign and jumped the Tech advantage to 9-1.

The Bisons answered in the fifth with a three-run jack of their own, but it would mark the closest the visitors would come to the Golden Eagles the rest of the day.

In the sixth, Bryant took one of those runs back for the purple and gold, crushing an oppo-taco to right-center field to open the bottom of the frame. One more long ball for Lipscomb in the eighth provided the remainder of the scoring in the contest.

Freshman Brody Lanham turned in two scoreless innings out of the bullpen, allowing just one hits with a pair of punch outs. Right-hander Hunter Mann shut down the Bisons in the ninth, accruing a strikeout without allowing a hit.

Mills led Tech with a 2-for-4 day, three RBI, and two runs while Gilliland added his three RBI on the dinger. Shiver, Bryant, and Ford each picked up a pair of knocks on the day as well.

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