The UTM baseball team could not break through today in its doubleheader against Jacksonville State, falling by margins of 12-8 and 14-4 at Skyhawk Field.
Christian Hall (3-for-6, team-high three runs scored) and Jack Culumovic (3-for-6, two doubles, two RBI’s, two runs scored) each hit .500 on the day for UTM while Will Smith hit .444 (4-of-9) with two doubles and a home run during the doubleheader. Blake Davis set a season-high with four RBI’s during Game 1 while Ethan Whitley scored twice today for the Skyhawks.
On the mound, Eric Steensma provided two innings of shutout baseball out of the bullpen in Game 1. Sam Folks (2-5) fanned five batters over four frames but received the loss in Game 1. Nick Wohlbold (3-3) went 4.2 frames in the nightcap but was also charged with the loss.
UTM (15-23, 7-11 Ohio Valley Conference) starts a five-game road trip on Tuesday, May 4 when it heads to in-state rival Lipscomb. First pitch from Dugan Field in Nashville is set for 6 p.m.
Game 1
The Skyhawks scored the final five runs of the contest but their comeback attempt wasn’t enough.
The Gamecocks (22-21, 12-9 OVC) scored once in the top of the first before Folks stranded a pair of runners with an inning-ending strikeout. Jacksonville State came back to score five runs in the second to build a 6-0 lead.
UTM got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the second as Wil LaFollette drew an eight-pitch walk to lead off the inning. After a Hall single and Noah Thigpen hit by pitch loaded the bases, Davis sent a high chopper to first base for an RBI groundout. Hall then came in to score after a Gamecock error to make the score 6-2.
Following Jacksonville State adding one run in the third, Folks retired the side in order in the fourth inning – his final frame of the day. The senior lefty required only eight pitches to work his way through the heart of the Gamecock batting order.
Jacksonville State scored three runs in the top of the fifth but the Skyhawks got one of those runs back in the bottom half. Davis jumped on a 2-0 offering for a long home run out to left center, the first round-tripper of the season for the junior backstop out of Crandall, Georgia.
The Gamecocks generated two runs in the top of the sixth but UTM quieted their bats from that point forward in the initial game out of the doubleheader. Ryan Insco tossed a scoreless seventh while Steensma took it from there, striking out a pair of batters while facing just one hitter over the minimum over two frames.
Meanwhile, the Skyhawks put together two more multi-run innings to give themselves a fighting chance during the late portion of the game. The first instance came in the bottom of the sixth after four consecutive walks and a Culumovic RBI single to center made the score 12-5.
Three more runs were pushed across for UTM in the bottom of the eighth. Whitley (single), Hall (walk) and Thigpen (walk) each found themselves aboard the basepaths as the first three batters of the frame. Davis then plated Whitley with a sacrifice fly in right field foul territory. Five pitches later, a Culumovic double scored Hall while Thigpen eventually came around to score on an RBI groundout by Smith.
However, the potential Skyhawk rally would stall as UTM could not get any closer than 12-8 the rest of the way.
Game 2
The Skyhawks struck first but a pair of big scoring innings by Jacksonville State in the fifth and eighth loomed large on the final boxscore.
Wohlbold came out firing, going three-up, three-down in the top of the first on just seven pitches. Smith crushed a leadoff double in the bottom half and moved up 90 feet on a groundout by Daniels. Casey Harford provided UTM with a 1-0 advantage following a sacrifice fly that scored Smith.
The top of the second proved to be no different for Wohlbold as the junior righty from Columbia, Missouri, came away with back-to-back strikeouts as part of a perfect frame.
The Gamecocks evened the score at 1-1 in the third but Wohlbold settled in to strand a runner on second base after they had reached with just one away. Jacksonville State took its first lead of the contest with two runs in the fourth and created some separation after a seven-run fifth inning.
Seth Petry was responsible for a scoreless sixth as the frame ended with perfect relay throws from LaFollette to Smith to Davis to record the final out on a play at the plate.
The Skyhawks cut into their deficit in the bottom of the sixth. Culumovic and Daniels each sent doubles into the gap in left center to make the score 10-2.
David Hussey entered the game in the seventh, striking out a pair of batters over a shutout inning of work. The Gamecocks scored four times in the top of the eighth but UTM would not go down quietly.
Smith cranked a two-run homer over the wall in center in the bottom of the eighth – scoring Culumovic (who was issued a free pass). Harford and Hall followed with two-out hits but the Jacksonville State lead was too large to overcome.
