NASHVILLE, Tenn.– The University of Tennessee at Martin baseball team took No. 11 Vanderbilt down to the wire but the Commodores were able to prevail in the bottom of the ninth inning, winning by a 5-4 margin.
The Skyhawks (15-25) took a 1-0 lead in the first inning before the Commodores (30-11) scored the next four runs of the contest. UT Martin kept chipping away and eventually tied the score in the top of the eighth. The game appeared to be bound for extra innings until Vanderbilt hit a solo home run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth for the walk-off victory.
Jalen Fithian went 2-for-3 with a walk out of the leadoff spot for the Skyhawks while Andrew Fernandez, Mac Danford, Garner Anderson and Zac Rice each drove in a run. Blaze Bell, Alec Beaman and Frank Micallef all scored a run to guide UT Martin offensively.
Choyce Diffey started on the mound for the Skyhawks and threw four innings with five strikeouts and three hits allowed. Zach Wager and Baylor Jones hurled scoreless frames out of the bullpen before Brock Arender (0-2) was charged with the tough-luck loss, allowing just one run in a career-best 2.2 innings of work.
UT Martin jumped out early as a Danford RBI single was the third base knock of the inning. Diffey was lights out in his first frame, striking out the side in the bottom of the first.
The Commodores scratched out a run off a wild pitch in the second before taking a 2-1 edge in the bottom of the third. Vanderbilt tacked on two runs in the fourth but was silenced by the Skyhawk pitching staff over the next four innings.
Wager took to the mound in the fifth and tossed up his second straight scoreless frame in as many appearances. Jones got the ball out of the bullpen for the sixth and responded with another zero on the scoreboard.
UT Martin began to get back within striking distance in the seventh as Beaman was issued a one-out walk and Micallef singled. Rice (double) and Fernandez (sacrifice fly) then brought home a pair of runs to leave the Skyhawks just one run away from knotting things up.
Arender sped through the bottom of the seventh with just 10 pitches. In UT Martin’s next at-bat, Bell led off with a double down the left field line. Two batters later, Anderson lifted a sacrifice fly to plate Bell and make the score 4-all.
At one point, Arender retired five of six batters with a pair of strikeouts during that time. After hitting just one ball out of the infield in the eighth and ninth frames off Arender, the Commodores struck for the walk-off win.
The Skyhawks will get set to host Ohio Valley Conference co-leader Tennessee Tech this weekend (April 26 through April 28) on ESPN+.
