The Skyhawk baseball team, following a 2-2 stint against Saint Louis and Alabama A&M in Birmingham, Alabama wrapped up their stint in the South Alabama Invitational over the weekend, going 2-1 over that stretch.
The Skyhawks kicked off the weekend in Mobile, Alabama with a matchup against 2019 Big 10 Conference Champion Indiana. Though the Skyhawks put up a valiant effort against the Hoosiers, UTM ultimately fell just short, losing 2-3.
The Hoosiers, prior to their date with UTM, wrapped up a three-game series against the nationally ranked Louisiana State University Tigers. Indiana managed to snatch one win over those three games, and they were looking forward to add another win to the column against the unranked squad out of Martin.
First up on the pitching mound for the Skyhawks was senior right-handed pitcher (RHP) Winston Cannon. Indiana’s Cole Barr set the Skyhawks back early with a home run in the first inning, but Cannon stood strong and eventually got his squad out of a bases-loaded jam to keep UTM within a 1-0 striking distance.
After the early home run, Cannon redeemed himself through inning five, in which he held the Hoosiers off the scoreboard until his fifth inning departure. While UTM couldn’t hold onto it, Cannon’s dominance on the mound gave the Skyhawks a chance to steal the lead from Indiana.
In the fourth inning, freshman outfielder (OF) Christian Hall got the Skyhawks on the board with an RBI single down left field, allowing junior infielder (IF) Andruw McKenzie to give UTM an unearned run.
Tied at 1-1, junior utility player Houston Wright hit an RBI double that contributed another unearned run. The Skyhawks entered the fifth inning with a 3-2 lead over the Hoosiers.
However, Cannon stepped down from the mound, and the Hoosiers responded immediately to the change. Indiana’s Tyler Van Belt tied the game in the fifth with an RBI single, followed by Jeremy Houston’s sacrifice-fly tie breaker.
Following Indiana’s comeback were four innings of scoreless baseball, and eventual 2-3 Skyhawk loss.
Senior RHP David Hussey (0-1) was credited with the loss. Hussey struck out seven batters and allowed one earned run over five innings pitched.
Later that afternoon, the Skyhawks had a date with host school South Alabama, who came into the game with a 2-3 record.
Two innings went by before either side got onto the scoresheet. Hunter Stokes of the Jaguars broke the silence in the bottom of the third with a right side RBI single. The Jaguars’ lead was extended to 2-0 in the fourth when Reid Powers hit a line drive RBI single.
UTM’s bats remained stone cold in the fifth, but bombs started to drop in the sixth inning for both teams. In total, the sixth inning accounted for eight total runs, with each side getting four.
Senior OF Sean Dixson grounded out to South Alabama’s second baseman to kick off the sixth, but this gave sophomore utility player Jack Culumovic time to run home and finally give the Skyhawks some life. This also primed freshman OF Christian Hall to score on third base.
With Hall on third, Wright slammed a two-RBI home run to give UTM a 3-2 lead over the Jaguars. Freshman IF Wil LaFollette added another home run before the bottom of the inning, putting UTM up 4-2.
The Jaguars responded proportionatly in the bottom of the inning, with a two-RBI double and two-RBI home run putting South Alabama back on top with a 6-4 lead.
The Skyhawks regained the lead in the seventh thanks to some timely errors by the Jaguars. A pitching error and a ground-out RBI by Hall put the Skyhawks evened the score at 6-6.
The Skyhawks put the icing on the cake with a Culumovic RBI double that established the 7-6 final score, giving UTM their first win of the invitational.
The Skyhawks’ last opponent, Sienna College (0-7) out of Loudonville, New York, gave the Skyhawks issues during day two of the invitational.
UTM bucked the trend of starting off scoreless thanks to a Dixson home run to kick off game three, but the lead was short lived due to Sienna’s two runs in the bottom of the first. Zach Durfee of the Saints played a big role in Sienna’s early 2-1 lead, contributing a double that was mishandled by Dixson that ultimately resulted in two runs.
Sienna didn’t play like an 0-7 squad in the early innings, following up with a two-run second inning right after the first, going up 4-1 on the Skyhawks. UTM’s offense was held up until the third, when an RBI single by Hall and an error by Sienna’s right fielder closed the gap to 3-4.
Durfee returned to the scoresheet with an RBI double in the fourth, but this marked the last time the Saints offense produced in the game, as UTM’s pitching held Sienna scoreless and let the Skyhawk batters tear up the opposition.
The fifth inning saw Dixson once again return to scoresheet with an RBI. This was followed by an RBI single by sophomore IF Noah Thigpen to even the score at 5-5. A wild pitch in the same inning sent Dixson home, once again giving the Skyhawks the lead at 6-5.
A seventh inning fielding error sent LaFollette home for UTM’s final run of the weekend, giving the Skyhawks a 7-5 win and positive record over two days of competition.
Though the Skyhawks rolled with five pitchers, freshman RHP Ryan Insco and Wohlbold stood out on the mound. Insco carried a significant load of the work, earning the win after allowing no runs over four innings pitched. Wohlbold earned his second save of the season, striking out three batters in his one inning of work.
The Skyhawks take on another power-five school on Tuesday, Feb. 25 when they face the Alabama Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
