Game 1
The UTM baseball team stumbled as early mistakes fueled their 9-2 loss against Saint Louis University.
The Billikens started early as they amounted a 6-0 lead in the first five innings, a feat to which the Skyhawks could not overcome for the first loss of the season.
Senior starter Sam Folks began the game without a hitch as he put down the first three Saint Louis batters in order. However, the innings followed proved to be troublesome as he gave up one in the second inning and four in the third inning. Folks stayed around for four innings where he recorded five runs against him; however the first run was unearned.
UTM couldn’t overcome this early deficit as they boasted only three hits through the first four innings. Saint Louis only added to their lead as freshman Mitchell Ford took the mound. In his first glimpse of Division I baseball Ford did a decent job handling the hot opposition as he only gave up one run in the fifth and three runs in the sixth.
The Skyhawks were able to muster out a little bit as they scored two runs on freshman Will LaFollette’s two-RBI single to make the score 6-2 in the sixth inning. However, the three runs that Ford gave up in the sixth finished up the scoring to make it 9-2 in the Billikens advantage. That would be the final scoring of the ball game as junior Jack Knight came in for the Skyhawks and pitched two scoreless innings. On the other side UTM wouldn’t be able to muster any offense in the late parts of the ball game. Without any scoring from either side, late the Skyhawks fell 9-2 to the Billikens.
Game three is set to start tomorrow at noon as UT Martin will throw out Seth Petry versus Saint Louis’ Matthew Boyer.
Game 2
The UTM baseball team suffered through three disastrous innings as they lost the third game in the series 10-3.
In what started as hopeful for the Skyhawks turned to the opposite as the Billikens scored nine of their 10 runs in three innings to out UTM.
It all began on the right foot as the Skyhawk batters were ready to face Saint Louis’ freshmen right-hander in the series-deciding game. Sophomore leadoff hitter Jack Culumovic reached quickly in the first inning after a single; his hit would prove to be beneficial as freshmen infielder Will LaFollette singled to center to score the runner. Fellow freshmen Christian Hall would bring him in only moments after with a double to left field. Before it was all done, the score read 2-0 following the first inning.
Similar to yesterday’s results sophomore starter Seth Petry got through the first inning with ease. However, just like all of this series, the UTM starters got in trouble when they hit the middle of the order. A blast put the Billikens one behind the Skyhawks, but a ton more bloop hits, and a line-drive triple gave them the lead 4-2 lead in the second inning.
The scoring epidemic for Saint Louis continued as they generated three more runs in the fourth with small ball techniques. It started as senior reliever Jeffrey O’Doherty put runners on first and second before an error allowed another runner and a score. Senior reliever David Hussey came into the sticky situation and escaped after two more runs had crossed the plate. Going into the fifth inning, the Skyhawks were in big trouble as they trailed 7-2.
Saint Louis added one more in the fifth to make the score an even number with a commanding 8-2 lead. UT Martin was able to muster some retaliation as junior Houston Wright hit a sacrifice fly to score LaFollette in the sixth. But one run didn’t make the difference as freshmen Austin Kasick surrendered two more in the bottom half of the inning to the Billikens to make the score 10-3.
Freshman reliever Ryan Insco got the final two innings for the Skyhawks, and just like his debut performance; he dominated by pitching two scoreless innings. However, while Insco proved to be a successful weapon late in games, the Skyhawks offense couldn’t come back from the deficit as UTM fell 10-3. Ultimately this loss gave Saint Louis the series and put the Skyhawks at 1-2 on the season.
UTM returns to action Wednesday as they head to Huntsville, Ala. to face off against Alabama A&M in the single-game set.
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