MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Baseball is a funny game.
 
And a humbling one.
 
After banging out 21 hits and five home runs in a 18-8 victory over Middle Tennessee Friday night, the Bulldogs found themselves trailing 11-0 after three innings on an overcast Saturday afternoon before 229 fans at Reese Smith Jr. Field.
 
Not ideal.
 
But the Bulldogs gamely battled back. Junior righthander Alec Sparks gave up just one run in five innings of relief, and Tech scored three runs in the ninth and had the tying run on deck before falling 12-8.
 
"See an 11-spot up there, it's easy for you to lose concentration as a hitter," Tech coach Lane Burroughs said. "We didn't do that. Proud of the way they battled. And proud of Alec Sparks; what a job he did to give us a chance. Until he got out there, I thought they might score 30."
 
Middle, 22-20, moved back in front of Tech by a game in the Conference USA standings. Middle is alone in fourth place at 11-9; Tech, 21-23, is fifth at 10-10.
 
The Blue Raiders scored their first 11 runs on 11 hits and a Tech error.
 
Tech scored a run and got its first hit of the game, an Ethan Bates double, in the fourth and scored four in the fifth. Against Middle Tennessee starter Jaden Hamm, the big blow was a three-run homer by Bates in the fifth, his second homer of the series. Shortstop Will Safford, who hit a three-run homer Friday, had a solo home run to lead off the fifth when Tech cut the score to 11-5, and a solo shot in the ninth to make it 12-6; he's hit his only three homers of the season in the past two games.
 
But Tech struck out 15 times, six times to end an inning, seven times looking.
 
Meanwhile Sparks, the fifth Tech pitcher of he game, was doing the job on the mound to give the Tech bats a chance.
 
The final one came in the ninth. Trailing 12-5, Safford homered with one out and with two out, Logan McLeod walked for this third time in the game. Brody Drost singled and Jorge Corona scored them both with his 14^th double of the season.
 
That chased hard-throwing reliever Eriq Swan, who'd started the sixth and likely will be unavailable Sunday. Bates greeted righty closer James Sells with an RBI single to make it 12-8 before Sells got a groundout to end it.
 
Hamm, 4-4, was the winner; Greg Martinez, 0-4, took the loss.
 
The Bulldogs will try to win both Game 3 and the series Sunday afternoon at 1. The fates might favor Tech as it's the Blue Raiders' Bark in the Park Game; pet dogs are welcome, even encouraged, to come.
 
The way things shape up, Tech will bring its own pack of Mound Dogs to the park and try to get back into a tie for fourth in CUSA, likely with the combo of lefty Ryan Harland and righthanders Landon Tomkins, Justin Williams, and Bates.