The UTM baseball team bounced back from a Game 1 setback in today’s doubleheader to claim the rubber game of its Ohio Valley Conference-opening series against Belmont, defeating the Bruins by a 10-5 margin in Game 2 at Skyhawk Field.
UTM (6-7, 2-1 OVC) completed its first series victory over the Bruins since 2015, dispatching the preseason OVC favorite with timely hitting and tremendous relief pitching. After an 8-0 setback to Belmont and Preseason OVC Pitcher of the Year Joshua South in the first game, the Skyhawks reached base safely 20 times in Game 2 (10 hits, eight walks, two hit by pitches). On the mound, four UTM relievers combined for one earned run over the final five innings to seal the win.
Blake Davis and Houston Wright each hit .400 on the day while Ethan Whitley tied for the team lead with two RBI’s and two runs scored. Noah Thigpen, Will Smith and Blake Daniels all had two RBI’s for the Skyhawks while Wright and Wil LaFollette joined Whitley with two runs scored apiece.
Credited with the win in Game 2 was David Hussey (1-0), who spun 1.1 shutout innings. Seth Petry (two innings) and Jefferey O’Doherty (0.2 innings) did not allow an earned run out of the bullpen in Game 2 while Eli Martin tossed a scoreless inning of relief in Game 1.
UTM resumes its OVC schedule on March 19-20 when it heads to Richmond, Kentucky to take on the Eastern Kentucky Colonels.
Game 1
Belmont used a pair of big scoring innings and leaned on South to even the series at 1-all after the first of two games today.
Skyhawk starter Sam Folks (1-2) matched South pitch-for-pitch through the early portion of the contest. He stranded a pair of runners and threw only a dozen pitches to five Bruin hitters in the top of the first. The senior southpaw then retired the side in order in the second and pitched around a harmless one-out single in the third to keep the contest scoreless.
Belmont got on the scoreboard first, pushing across one run in the top of the fourth before Folks buckled down and left two men on base. The Bruins then added four runs in the fifth to go on top by a 5-0 margin.
Harford was UTM’s first baserunner of the game after he drew a walk in the bottom of the fourth. The Skyhawks’ first hit of the contest came via a double off the bat of Wright to lead off the fifth. However, UTM could not parlay either of those opportunities into scoring offense.
Ryan Insco took over for the Skyhawks on the mound and at one point retired six out of seven batters in the middle innings. He blanked the Bruins in the sixth and seventh innings to keep UTM within striking distance.
Harford roped a leadoff double in the seventh but again, South kept the Skyhawks out of the run column. The right-hander was lifted after inducing an inning-ending double play in the bottom of the eighth after Belmont tacked on three runs in the top half of the frame.
Martin’s scoreless appearance came in the ninth as UTM got a pair of runners on the basepaths in the bottom half. However, the Bruins completed the first shutout of the Skyhawks during the 2021 campaign.
Game 2
A six-run fourth inning gave UTM its first lead of the game and the Skyhawks never looked back in the series finale.
Eric Steensma drew the starting assignment on the hill for the Skyhawks. After a scoreless first inning, Belmont led off the second inning with a solo home run but the freshman out of Western Springs, Illinois soon settled in. He mowed down seven batters in a row until another solo homer resulted in a 2-0 Bruin lead heading into the bottom of the fourth.
UTM would soon break out of its hitting funk in a big way, plating six runs in the bottom of the fourth. Wright was issued a one-out walk and Whitley followed with a single. After an error loaded the bases, Thigpen scorched a double through the left side to even the score at 2-all. Davis then collected a go-ahead RBI with a safety squeeze that was perfectly placed for a bunt single. Benny DeTrude followed with a walk to load the bases once again and Smith delivered a clutch RBI single, extending the Skyhawk advantage out to 4-2. Daniels then smoked a ball off the wall in right field for a two-run double to cap off UTM’s huge inning.
Belmont accounted for a pair of unearned runs in the fifth and had the tying run at second base after loading the bases with two away. Hussey was summoned from the bullpen to record the final out of the frame, swaying the momentum back on the Skyhawks’ side.
Four pitches into the bottom of the fifth, UTM nudged its lead out to 8-4 thanks to Whitley. He drove the first pitch he saw over the wall in left-center to score Wright, who was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning. The round-tripper was the second of the series and 22nd in the career of the first baseman from Mason, Tennessee, which ties him for the fifth-most in school history.
Hussey kept the Bruins off the scoreboard in the sixth after a baserunning gaffe led to an inning-ending lineout double play. Belmont got one run back in the seventh but Nick Wohlbold retired the final three batters of the inning to strand a pair of Bruins on the basepaths.
The Skyhawks added insurance runs in each of their next two turns at the dish after RBI singles from Smith (seventh inning) and Wright (eighth inning).
That would be more than enough for Petry, who was electric out of the Skyhawk bullpen. The sophomore righty from Murfreesboro, Tennessee, allowed just two harmless singles over the final two frames, punching out the final batter of the game on three consecutive called strikes.
