MARTIN, Tenn.– The University of Tennessee at Martin baseball team scored in every inning of its run-rule triumph against Middle Tennessee with a season-high 14 runs in the fifth win of the season.
Andrew Fernandez tied a career-high in runs batted in, driving in five Skyhawks in a 3-for-5 day. Mac Danford doubled for the fourth time this season and had a perfect day in the box, going 3-for-3 with four RBI’s. Cole Smith recorded a four-RBI performance while Will Smith scored a team-high three runs for UT Martin. Additionally, Jalen Fithian went 2-for-4 with an RBI against his former team.
Senior southpaw Tristan Walton (2-1) was surgical on the mound, going 6.2 innings while allowing only two earned runs and matching a career-high in strikeouts (nine). Shawn Perez entered with one out to go and put the finishing touches on the Game 1 win in his Skyhawk debut.
From the very first pitch, Walton was locked in as he struck out two batters in the top of the first. The offense followed with a double from Will Smith that set up Danford for a two-out RBI single in the bottom half of the inning.
In the second, UT Martin quickly answered a Blue Raider run with a Fithian RBI groundout. Middle Tennessee did not get a ball out of the infield in the third inning before a Cole Smith sacrifice fly put the Skyhawks on top by a 3-1 margin through three frames.
With just one hit through the fourth inning, Middle Tennessee’s offense was still being thwarted by Walton, who fanned two batters and got another pop out in the fourth. The offense of the Orange and Blue got rolling in their biggest inning of the game, bringing in five runs in the bottom half thanks to a RBI singles from Fernandez (two runs), Danford and Cole Smith (two runs).
Facing trouble for the first time, Walton was unfazed with two runners on base in the fifth frame. The senior punched out one batter, got another to pop up and recorded the third out on a rare batter’s interference call.
Four more runs were plated by UT Martin in the bottom of the fifth. Fernandez singled in Cameron Brady before a Danford two-run double to right field and yet another Cole Smith sacrifice fly to stretch the Skyhawk lead out to 11.
The Blue Raiders went down 1-2-3 in the sixth and Fernandez’s third and final hit of the game was a double that brought in Fithian and McLean in the bottom half.
In the seventh, Walton collected the first two outs before Perez was summoned from the bullpen. The final out was recorded when Brady threw out a potential basestealer at second base for the second time in the contest.
UT Martin will go for the series win in Game 2 at 2 p.m. tomorrow.
