MEMPHIS, Tenn.– The University of Tennessee at Martin baseball team gained a 10-7 win over in-state rival Memphis this evening in Game 1 of a two-game midweek tilt.
The win marked the first for the Skyhawks against the Tigers since 2010 and the first victory at Memphis since 2009.
Choyce Diffey (1-0) set a new career-high in strikeouts with eight over 5.1 frames while also earning the first win of his UT Martin career. Kaleb Baskin was out on the bump for 1.2 innings and only allowed one run before Jeb Bartle allowed only one hit over the final two frames.
UT Martin (4-4) outhit Memphis by a 12-9 margin, blasting three home runs on the evening. Zac Rice recorded his second straight three-hit performance and was a triple away from the cycle. Shortstop Jalen Fithian went 2-for-4 with a long ball and a single to his name. Senior Mac Danford launched one out and landed two hits while Cole Smith had two RBI’s on a run-scoring double and single.
Fithian’s solo shot led off the bottom of the third and got the Skyhawks on the scoreboard.
Trailing by three going into the fifth inning, UT Martin uncorked seven runs (tying a season-high for one inning) to gain a lead they wouldn’t relinquish for the remainder of the game. Danford belted the first pitch of the inning for a round-tripper to lead off the scoring barrage. Following a Fithian single, a Rice RBI double and an Andrew Fernandez RBI single leveled the score at 4-all. Fernandez advanced to third on a Will Smith double and would later cross home plate on an error. Cole Smith (RBI double) and Hunter McLean (two-run single) capped off the scoring in the action-packed fifth.
After Diffey delivered a big shutdown inning in the bottom of the fifth, insurance would come in the Skyhawks’ at-bat in the top of the sixth. Rice sent a 3-1 pitch over the wall in left center and Cole Smith drove home his second run of the day with a single.
After Baskin pitched effectively in his near-two innings of work, Bartle would enter a familiar territory to close out the last two innings of the game. Bartle retired the side in order in the eighth before inducing a groundout and two flyouts in the final frame.
UT Martin will go for the sweep tomorrow at 4 p.m.
