MARTIN, Tenn. – The legendary career of University of Tennessee at Martin outfielder Kaci Fuller produced another key chapter to an inevitable Hall of Fame resume en route to a 6-0 victory over Rhodes on Tuesday. With a base knock in the fifth inning, Fuller stands alone atop the UT Martin record book with her 238th career base hit.
After tying the program record of 237 set back in 2012 by Skyhawk Hall of Fame member Jenny Bain (2009-12) on Saturday, Fuller now holds the new program mark. While also possessing the school’s all-time mark in career batting average (.389), Fuller set the new program mark in the hit column in just 186 games after the previous mark was set in 238 contests – a difference of 52 games.
While Fuller’s record-setting performance highlighted the day, the Skyhawks posted a dominant team effort on the way to their 10th shutout of the season. UT Martin outhit Rhodes by a 13-3 margin while the trio of Emily Brown, Jordyn Hustey and Lindsay Kline combined for the shutout victory in the circle.
Brown earned the start and pitched two perfect innings before Hustey entered in the third inning and cruised to her first victory of the season after allowing one hit in three frames. Kline closed out the contest with two scoreless innings to complete the shutout.
Offensively, 10 different players tallied base hits for the home squad with Kennedy Brown leading the way with a 3-for-3 afternoon at the plate. Along with earning the win in the circle, Hustey also had a nice afternoon at the plate where she went 2-for-3 with a two-run double.
The Skyhawks jumped on the board first with two runs in the third inning. A pair of singles to open the inning set up a scoring frame before Brown used a well-placed bunt single to drive in the game’s first run. Then on the following at-bat, Avry Blume groundout out to the right side to drive in a run and take a 2-0 advantage.
UT Martin began to put the game out of reach in the bottom of the fifth when a stolen base attempt by Brown led to a throwing error which allowed Fuller to scamper home from third. Then later in the frame, Hustey laced a two-run double into the left-center gap to give the home squad a 5-0 lead.
The home squad added the final nail in the bottom of the sixth when pinch hitter Kiersten Nixon launched a deep ball to left field which died at the track but allowed the team’s sixth run to cross the plate.
UT Martin will now turn its attention back to Ohio Valley Conference when playing host to Morehead State this weekend, beginning a three-game set on Saturday, April 20.
