MARION, Ill. – The University of Tennessee at Martin put forth a fight today in its second game of the 2024 Ohio Valley Conference Baseball Championship event but the Skyhawks fell by an 11-2 margin to No. 4 seed Southern Indiana at Mtn Dew Park.
UT Martin closes out the 2024 campaign with a 21-35 overall record, hours after claiming its third OVC Championship tournament victory in school history.
The Skyhawks tied the score after the top of the fourth and were within two runs going into the seventh inning stretch. However, six unearned runs in the bottom of the seventh cost UT Martin.
Alec Beaman went deep for the second time in as many OVC Championship games while Jalen Fithian and Mac Danford each registered multi-hit performances. Cole Smith (RBI) and Will Smith (run scored) also led to scoring opportunities today for the Skyhawks.
On the mound, three UT Martin relievers combined for one earned run allowed over three frames. Zach Wager (two strikeouts in 1.1 innings), Tucker Reed (zero earned runs in 0.2 innings) and Eric Steensma (perfect eighth inning) closed out the contest. Jeb Bartle (2-5) made the start and struck out a career-high five batters with just four hits allowed over five frames.
The Screaming Eagles (26-30) scored once in the bottom of the first but Bartle did not allow a ball out of the infield over the next two innings. He retired the side on just 10 pitches in the second before needing only 11 pitches to dispatch Southern Indiana in order in the third.
The Skyhawks knotted the score at 1-all in the top of the fourth. Will Smith drew a leadoff walk and Danford was hit by a pitch on the next plate appearance. After Will Smith moved up 90 feet on a deep flyout off the bat of Blaze Bell, Cole Smith guided an RBI single up the middle.
After Bartle tallied two outs in the fourth, the Screaming Eagles scored three runs to go back on top by a 4-1 margin. In the fifth, Bartle punched out a pair of batters and used only nine pitches to get through a clean inning.
Wager kept Southern Indiana off the scoreboard in the sixth, stranding a pair of runners after entering the game with no outs and two men on the basepaths.
Beaman’s third round-tripper of the season came on a 2-1 count in the top of the seventh, slicing UT Martin’s deficit to 4-2.
However, the Screaming Eagles crossed the plate seven times in the bottom of the seventh with all but one run being unearned.
Steensma made the final appearance of his collegiate career in the eighth, going three-up, three-down on an efficient five pitches.
Four Skyhawk seniors took the last plate appearances of their collegiate careers in the top of the ninth but Southern Indiana was able to advance to tomorrow’s third round.
