The UTM baseball team never trailed in today’s second game of the doubleheader at Eastern Illinois, collecting a 5-2 triumph to win the season series against the Panthers.
Earlier today, the Skyhawks fell by a 7-0 margin in the front end of the doubleheader, setting up the decisive rubber game. By virtue of its win in Game 2 today, UTM has now won each of its last four series at Coaches Stadium (having not lost since 2013).
Ethan Whitley slugged his third home run of the series and equaled Casey Harford for a team-high with two RBI’s on the day. Blake Daniels also scored a team-best two runs to go along with an RBI.
On the mound, Nick Wohlbold improved to 3-2 on the season after tossing five innings of one-run ball in Game 2. David Hussey picked up his second save in a little over 24 hours, closing out the nightcap with 1.1 perfect frames. Eric Steensma (one scoreless inning in Game 1) and Seth Petry (one run, four strikeouts in 2.2 innings during Game 2) also provided quality relief appearances this afternoon.
UTM concludes its four-game road trip on Tuesday, April 27 when it heads to Arkansas-Pine Bluff. First pitch from the Torii Hunter Baseball Complex is scheduled for 3 p.m.
Game 1
Daniels had his eighth multi-hit game of the season but the Skyhawks ran into a hot pitcher in today’s opener as Panther right-hander Ky Hampton threw a shutout to even the series at 1-all.
UTM starting pitcher Sam Folks (2-4) allowed two runs – one earned – in the bottom of the first. The senior lefty bounced back to retire each of the next five batters but Eastern Illinois used a two-out rally in the third to extend its lead to 3-0.
Folks struck out the first two batters he faced in the fourth as part of a clean inning. The Panthers added another two-out run in the fifth and one more run in the sixth before Ryan Insco recorded the final two outs of the frame.
After Eastern Illinois pushed across two runs in the seventh, Steensma made his 11th appearance of the season and shushed the Panther offense. He worked around a pair of baserunners with an infield popup and a foulout to end the eighth.
Meanwhile, the Skyhawk offense could not square up Hampton. Jack Culumovic led off the third with a single but was erased on a double play. Daniels reached via singles in the fourth and seventh innings but could not come around to score.
Game 2
Reliable pitching and another big fly off the bat of Whitley ensured the UTM bus ride home was a happy one as the Skyhawks came out on top in the nightcap.
Wohlbold did not allow a base hit until one out in the fourth inning, setting the tone for the UTM victory. By that time, the Skyhawks had staked the junior right-hander a three-run lead that would prove to be enough.
UTM got on the scoreboard with a three-spot in the top of the third. Blake Davis singled to lead off the inning and Will Smith followed with a two-out walk. Davis soon scored on an error and on the seventh pitch of Casey Harford’s at-bat, the junior shortstop laced an two-run single to make the score 3-0 in favor of the Skyhawks.
After dialing up a pair of strikeouts in a perfect second inning, Wohlbold did a masterful job of working out of a potential jam in the third. Eastern Illinois loaded the bases but Wohlbold induced a foulout to put an end to any scoring threat.
Whitley parked the first pitch of the top of the fourth inning beyond the wall in left field, following up his multi-homer game in the series opener with yet another longball. It was the 27th round tripper in the career of the first baseman out of Mason, Tenn.
Wohlbold was responsible for a scoreless fourth inning and as a result, UTM padded its lead to 5-0 on an RBI by Whitley that scored Daniels.
The top of the Panther lineup was able to scratch across one run in the bottom of the fifth but Wohlbold kept it there as he stranded two runners in his last inning of work.
Petry was downright electric in the next two frames, generating all three outs in the sixth via strikeout while sitting the Panthers down in order in the seventh.
Following an RBI single with two outs in the eighth, Hussey was summoned from the bullpen and needed only three pitches to get out of the inning. He induced a flyout to keep the Skyhawk advantage at 5-2. The senior right-hander from Minter, Ala. made short work of Eastern Illinois in the ninth, whiffing a pair of batters and fielding a comebacker for the other out to lower his season ERA to a miniscule 1.12.
