The Skyhawk baseball team defeated Tennessee Tech 7-5 to pick up their first victory at Skyhawk Park this season.
The Skyhawks (3-11, 2-3 OVC) were coming off a 2-0 loss to the Golden Eagles Saturday Night in a game where they only recorded one hit.
That wasn’t the case Sunday as the Skyhawks were able to tally seven runs off of 13 hits to even the three-game series at one apiece heading into Monday’s decisive game three.
UTM took the first lead in the bottom of the fourth inning when designated hitter Austin Taylor and left fielder Andrew Castillo hit back-to-back RBI singles to give the Skyhawks a 2-0 lead.
Tennessee Tech would answer back on their very next at-bat, scoring five runs in the top of the fifth. In that inning, the Skyhawks used five different pitchers before finally settling with freshman Michael Fidler, who pitched 2 2/3 scoreless innings and only gave up one hit.
Trailing 5-2, the Skyhawks picked up one run in the bottom of the fifth inning off a Taylor Douglas RBI sacrifice fly to close the deficit to two. Then in the bottom of the seventh, UTM pushed four runs across the plate with an RBI single by Mike Murphy, a two RBI double by Nico Zych and a RBI single by Taylor Douglas.
Relief pitcher Patrick Bernard came in to pitch the last two innings for the Skyhawks and picked up his third save of the season in UTM’s 7-5 victory.
“I was really proud of our guys battling back,” said UTM head coach Rick Robinson. “It was a really good game for us, but this was a great example how nothing has been easy. We get two outs and two strikes in the ninth and the next thing you know, the bases are loaded. Our guys did a great job of battling through that and working hard to get the win today.”
Fidler (2-1) picked up the victory for UTM while Tennessee Tech relief pitcher Cain Sloan (1-1) was credited with the loss.
Monday’s first pitch between the Skyhawks and the Golden Eagles is scheduled for 3 p.m. Alex Martin (0-2, 4.34 ERA) will start on the mound for the Skyhawks and will face Tennessee Tech’s Travis Moths (0-1, 7.88 ERA).
