Chattanooga vs. Tennessee State Boxscore - Game 1
Chattanooga vs. Tennessee State Boxscore - Game 2
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Sophomore pitcher Brooke Loudermilk (Locust Grove, Ga.) pitched a complete game shutout and junior third baseman Toni Hutchison (Madison, Tenn.) went 4-for-8 with five RBIs and two-run home run as Chattanooga (21-14, 3-0) swept a double-header from Tennessee State (10-18, 4-4 OVC), 1-0 and 8-1, Wednesday evening at Tiger Field in Nashville, Tenn.
Following a pair of scoreless innings in Game 1, Chattanooga loaded the bases in the top of the third inning on a single, fielder's choice and a walk. At that point, junior third baseman Toni Hutchison (Madison, Tenn.) drove home sophomore shortstop Tia Blosser (Knoxville, Tenn.) from third on a fielders choice to give UTC a 1-0 advantage.
It was a lead that the Lady Mocs would not relinquish as Loudermilk continued her dominance, allowing Tennessee State only one hit as she issued her third complete game shutout and struck out eight batters to improve to 9-6 on the season. She did not allow a hit until the fourth inning and faced only one batter over the minimum as she did not allow a walk or hit a batter. Lauren Weber pitched six solid innings, allowing only the one run for the Tigers as she fell to 1-1 on the season.
Of Chattanooga's five hits, senior shortstop Tara Tembey (Folsom, Calif.), freshman first baseman Michelle Fuzzard (Huntington Beach, Calif.) and freshman catcher Katie Blevins (Soddy-Daisy, Tenn.) each delivered doubles while Hutchison and Blosser each added singles. The lone TSU hit was a fourth inning double from sophomore infielder Tamara Perkins.
After another two scoreless innings to start the nightcap, Chattanooga's bats came alive with two outs in the top of the third as freshman outfielder Lauren Flores (Fort Oglethorpe, Ga.) doubled to left and freshman first baseman Michelle Fuzzard (Huntington Beach, Calif.) singled her home for a 1-0 lead.
Toni Hutchison then proceeded to belt her fourth homerun of the season with a towering drive out to left field to make it a 3-0 UTC lead. Blevins then followed with a sharp single through the left side before the Tigers clawed their way out of the inning.
A Hutchison single to right with two outs in the fifth set the stage for another two out rally as Blevins then drove her 12th homerun of the season over the centerfield fence, some 220 feet away from home plate, to stretch the Chattanooga lead to 5-0. The Lady Mocs would add two more runs the following inning as Hutchison doubled to left center to make it 7-0.
TSU got on the board in the bottom of the inning as junior outfielder Christy Hill singled up the middle to close to 7-1. That would be as close as they would get as Chattanooga added an insurance run in the seventh inning when senior outfielder Ashlan Clarkson (Chickamauga, Ga.) tripled with one out and was driven in by a single from redshirt-freshman infielder Tiffany Baker (East Ridge, Tenn.) to reach the final margin of 8-1.
Freshman pitcher Kandice Irwin (Knoxville, Tenn.) then proceeded to strike out the side in the bottom of the seventh inning to close out the game with a career-high tying nine strikeouts and secure her eighth win of the season. Irwin did not allow a hit over the first four innings of the game and surrendered only four hits and the one run over seven innings. Senior pitcher Amanda Vaught went 4.2 innings and allowed eight hits and five runs to take the loss for Tennessee State and fall to 9-12 on the season.
Hutchison led the way offensively for the Lady Mocs as she finished 3-for-4 with a career-high four RBIs and two runs scored while Clarkson also went 3-for-4, notching her first career triple. For Hutchison, the three hits ties a career-high set against Georgia Tech on February 28, 2007 while Clarkson has tallied three hits on three previous occasions, the most recent against Furman on May 6, 2006.
Katie Blevins posted a 2-for-4 performance with two RBIs and a run scored as she blasted her 12th home run of the season while junior outfielder Laci Upchurch (Madison, Tenn.) went 2-for-4. The 12 home runs place Blevins two home runs away from tying the Chattanooga single season mark set by Angela Brewer (2000-01) in 2001.
The Lady Mocs return to action this weekend when they host the Catamounts of Western Carolina in a three-game series beginning on Saturday, March 29. First pitch for the double-header is slated for 1 p.m. Sunday's series finale will be a 1 p.m. start.
NOTES
With the wins today, Chattanooga has extended its winning streak to a season-high five games ... entering today's double-header Katie Blevins ranked fourth in the nation in homeruns per game with a 0.42 per game average, seventh in slugging percentage at .868 and 16 in RBIs per game with a 1.12 average ... Brooke Loudermilk ranked 32nd in the nation in strikeouts per game with an average of nine and is 24th in the nation with 2 saves...as a team, Chattanooga ranks 10th in the country in overall fielding percentage at .978 and trails #1 Georgia (.985) by only .007 of a percentage.
