The Skyhawks followed their loss in game one of a double-header against Morehead State by scoring five runs in the bottom of the fourth, taking home the 5-3 win.
“We knew they were a hot team coming in here,” said UTM head coach Donley Canary. “They had beat Jacksonville State two-out-of-three at their place [Morehead, Ky.] … They have been on a roll lately. “
In contrast, the Skyhawks came into the game on a two game losing streak, dropping the last two games of a three-game series against Murray State.
In the first game of the day UTM fell to the Eagles 0-4 and it looked as if they were in for another loss, but due to late game heroics they pulled off the win.
Late in the fourth inning outfielder Becca Williams went to the plate with bases loaded and sent the ball flying toward centerfield, bringing home Leah Taylor, Lauren Smith and Kenzi Tate to tie the game at 3-3.
One batter later, Deven Wilson homered, bringing home Williams to give UTM the 5-3 lead that would carry the game.
“We’ve got a lot of homerun potential,” Canary said. “But you don’t want to live and die by the long-ball. We just needed something to get it going … I think we’re fighting more with ourselves than we are with the other team … fighting with ourselves individually to make something happen.“
“We’re a young team,” he added. “When you look around that infield there’s two or three freshmen, two or three sophomores, there’s just not a lot of older players, but at this point in our season you’re not a freshman squad … We’ve really been playing tight the last week or two and hopefully this will help us relax a little bit. You have to win so many games to get into the conference tournament and that’s our goal.”
In game two, Williams led the team with three hits while no other Skyhawk managed more than one. Tate allowed seven hits and three runs, but pitched five strikeouts.
The win gives Canary his 400th career win; he is fourth among active Ohio Valley Conference coaches.
The Skyhawks return to action Sunday April 21, at 1 p.m. when they take on OVC rival Eastern Illinois in a double-header.
