Chattanooga, Tenn. – Middle Tennessee scored seven unanswered runs over the final two frames on Wednesday night to hand Western Carolina its fifth-straight seasonal defeat as the Catamounts dropped the nonconference, neutral field meeting with the Blue Raiders 10-5 at AT&T Field, home of the Chattanooga Lookouts.
 
Western Carolina managed solo runs in the third and fourth innings, scoring on a Nate Stocum RBI double and a run-scoring single by Seth Graves to take the 2-0 lead through four complete. MTSU then erased WCU's early advantage with a three-run top of the fifth inning to grab a short-lived, 3-2, advantage.
 
The Catamounts matched the three-spot in the home half of the fifth to pull back in front by a pair, 5-3, through five complete. WCU took advantage of an infield error, a wild pitch, and the first career RBI by freshman Cameron Murray on a bases-loaded walk to score the runs. However, the Blue Raiders knotted the game with a three-hit, two-run top of the eighth to send the game to the ninth tied before exploding for five runs in the top of the ninth before the first out was recorded to ultimately provide the final tally.
 
The Catamounts got a two-out base runner in the bottom of the ninth on a hard infield single by Pascanel Ferreras to break a string of 12-straight retired by MTSU pitching, but the side was struck out to end the game.
 
Both Prater and Ferreras extended their team-leading hitting streaks to nine-straight, combining for three of WCU's seven hits. Prater finished 2-for-5 with a pair of singles. Bryson Parks stretched his reached base safely streak to nine-consecutive, reaching twice on an HBP and a walk. Stocum was 1-for-5 with the squad's lone extra-base hit.
 
Reliever Jacob Corn (1-1) suffered the loss as he was tagged for five runs in just a third of an inning recorded out of the bullpen. Corn was one of seven Catamount pitchers used on the day. The loss overshadowed the solid start by Davis Mortland who struck out five over 4.1 innings in the starting role.
 
LHP Peyton Wiggington (1-1), the last of seven MTSU pitchers used in the winning effort, scored the victory after striking out four in two innings of one-hit, scoreless relief work.
 
Nathan Sanders paced five Blue Raiders batters with multi-hit games, finishing 4-for-5 with a double and two RBI. Tatsunori Neigishi was 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI with shortstop Fausto Lopez doubling in a 2-for-5 effort.
 
Western Carolina (4-5) returns home for a three-game nonconference series against Stony Brook (1-6) scheduled for Friday through Sunday, March 4-5 at Childress Field / Hennon Stadium. Game one is set for 4 p.m. on Friday with live stats coverage available through CatamountSports.com.