EDWARDSVILLE, Ill.– The University of Tennessee at Martin baseball team couldn’t overcome an early SIUE surge as the Skyhawks fell in Game 1 of the weekend series, 8-3.
Blaze Bell led the way for the UT Martin (11-20, 3-4 Ohio Valley Conference) bats, going 3-for-4 with an RBI while Zac Rice and Cameron Brady landed two base hits apiece. Hunter McLean also drove in two runs while Cole Smith and Mac Danford each scored a run.
Tristan Walton (2-4) started the game on the hill and went seven innings with four earned runs allowed. Brock Arender threw a perfect eighth inning out of the bullpen, landing two punchouts in the process.
After a scoreless first inning on both sides, SIUE (10-20, 4-3 OVC) scored four runs in the second before tallying four runs (all unearned) in the third frame.
The Skyhawks answered with two runs of their own in the top of the fourth, getting back-to-back RBI doubles from Bell and McLean.
Walton settled in and fired four shutout frames the rest of the way. The southpaw induced a lineout and a pair of groundouts in the fourth before recording three groundball outs in the fifth.
UT Martin cut into its deficit in the sixth as Smith roped a one-out double down the right field line and later came in to score on an RBI fielder’s choice groundout off the bat of McLean.
Walton pitched around a one-out single in the sixth thanks to Brady throwing out a runner trying to steal for the final out of the inning. He then needed just 10 pitches to work his way through a scoreless seventh, wrapping up the frame on a 4-3 double play.
Arender had the eighth and retired the side in order, generating a pair of strikeouts in an electric outing. However, the Skyhawks could not make a comeback.
The series schedule has changed as the two sides will now play a doubleheader tomorrow starting at 1 p.m.
