By Brandon Burke, UT Martin Sports Information Intern
Game 1
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Beginning their eighth and final Ohio Valley Conference weekend with a statement performance in enemy territory, the University of Tennessee at Martin baseball team quieted the Southeast Missouri Redhawks on Friday evening with a 14-hit bludgeoning over the current top seed in the league standings, concluding the series opener on a 7-0 explosion over the final four innings to reach a 10-3 triumph and their second OVC victory in a true road setting.
Not only were the UTM bats sizzling over the latter portion of the contest, but the Skyhawk pitching tandem of Seth Petry and Tucker Reed did their part in ensuring that SEMO quickly ran out of gas. Surrendering only four hits to one of the most potent offenses in the conference while striking out 10 batters, UT Martin’s sensational defensive effort helped concoct a delicate balance of offensive dexterity with an unyielding barricade on the other side.
As the game slipped into a 3-3 stalemate following a pair of Redhawk runs in the bottom of the 5th, Petry and Reed wrapped a suffocating knot around the SEMO batting order to the tune of zero hits the rest of the way for the home unit. Meanwhile, the Skyhawks’ offensive progression – while already steady through the first half of the battle – was about to skyrocket and open the floodgates for a seven-run W.
First baseman Ethan Whitley emphatically put the visitors on the board with a three-run blast over the centerfield wall in the 4th frame, the second time in as many appearances that the fifth-year senior registered a homer of the three-score variety, his fifth HR of 2022 and 35th of his career to officially move into a tie for second-place all-time in UT Martin baseball history.
In his next trip to the plate two innings later, Whitley immediately severed the 3-3 tie with his fourth RBI of the night – just one short of a career-best for a single outing – wrangling in Casey Harford on a base hit for the second of three runs brought in from the shortstop, who himself went two-for-three for his 18th multi-hit performance of the semester.
Only the first of a four-run sequence in the top of the 6th, Whitley’s aforementioned score-inducing single paved the way for an RBI-double by rightfielder Wil LaFollette in the next at-bat. Infielder Nate Self made it three consecutive swings that brought at least one sprinter to home base, bringing in both LaFollette and Whitley for his 5th hit in the past two meetings.
Not satisfied with a 7-3 advantage, UT Martin thrusted the lead to its final resting place of seven with a three-run burst in the 9th, opened on a run-scoring double from freshman DH Blaze Bell. Lead-off man Will Smith – who tallied that run – managed to extend a six-game hitting streak just moments earlier, the 13th consecutive game that the preseason all-league performer has managed to get on base at least once.
Once Bell and Harford moved into scoring position to continue rubbing salt in the wound, leftfielder Jack Culumovic joined the party by securing the team’s fourth double of Game 1 to score those two runners on the 118th extra-base connection of the spring.
After filling in for Petry’s exquisite 5.1 innings of work, Reed unleashed a mesmerizing string of K’s to leave the Redhawks with an increasingly-miniscule chance of mustering a comeback bid. Altogether, Reed retired six batters in a row (including the entire side in the bottom of the 8th) to put a lock on SEMO’s offensive output by holding the opponent without a single hit over the game’s last four innings.
Game 2
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Maintaining a four-run advantage with six innings in the books through Saturday afternoon’s Ohio Valley Conference affair with Southeast Missouri, the University of Tennessee at Martin baseball team saw an abrupt shift in the game’s direction once the Redhawks managed a three-score double in the very last frame that allowed the three-game set to balance evenly at one win each.
Following SEMO’s walk-off victory by a 7-6 clip, both sides will await tomorrow’s grudge match in the Skyhawks’ regular season finale at 1:00 p.m. The blue and orange will aim for a second OVC series win at the final act of the semester after inching precariously close to reaching that feat this afternoon behind 11 more hits and a 7-3 lead acquired two/thirds of the way through the midway portion of the weekend slate on the road.
Continuing his phenomenal offensive output in the final league series of a record-setting five-year tenure, first baseman Ethan Whitley stacked up his weekend RBI collection to eight in just two outings by launching another multi-run homer in the 2nd stanza before batting two more runs in during the 5th. Lassoing 25 runs since February, Whitley has now earned the status of second-place among all former UT Martin players by soaring 36 balls past the outfield barrier since 2018.
Producing their third sequence of the series with at least three scores in a single inning, the Skyhawks wrestled Southeast Missouri’s one-run lead away by totaling four runs in the 5th and 6th. Whitley’s seventh and eighth RBI of the last 48 hours were sandwiched in between a couple more scores that pushed the lead in favor of UTM by a quartet. Taken from a wild pitch with the bases loaded and then a sprint home by Alec Beaman off a high ball into the opposite side of the field, the visitors put themselves in a solid position to grab their second straight W until the Redhawk comeback at the last opportunity available.
Wil LaFollette and Nate Self lined up three of the team’s four doubles on Saturday to give UT Martin eight such hits over the past two days and 25 overall in this series against SEMO. Both Self and LaFollette have tallied four connections each since Friday, helping head coach Ryan Jenkins’ club amass 16 runs in the final OVC set of the year thus far.
Additionally, centerfielder Will Smith continued a pair of impressive streaks as the lead-off batter, recording at least one hit in seven straight matchups while putting himself on base for the 14th meeting in a row.
Following in the footsteps of Seth Petry and Tucker Reed’s laudable pitching performance the previous night in a seven-run triumph, starting southpaw Lawson Russell embarked on a solid 5.2 innings of work in Game 2, surrendering just four hits to a team that entered the weekend tied for the OVC lead while striking out four and only walking a pair. Redshirt-freshman Baylor Jones finished out the final three chapters of the contest after Russell’s 104-pitch day, setting the stage for what should be a very intriguing clash on Sunday.
Game 3
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – The University of Tennessee at Martin baseball team’s 45-game journey in the 2022 spring season has concluded on the road in Ohio Valley Conference territory, taking on the Southeast Missouri Redhawks in a Game 3 grudge match after taking the series opener two nights ago. On a Sunday afternoon where inclement weather prematurely halted the contest in the final frame, the Skyhawks came up on the losing end of a 15-2 decision in the last league weekend for the navy and orange.
Scoring a pair thanks to a two-run jack in the top of the 5th by catcher Cameron Brady – the second home run of the semester from the sophomore after sending one past the wall at Alabama just over two months back – UTM finished out the ’22 closer with three extra-base swings against SEMO, which included one double each from Casey Harford and Will Smith.
Going yard three times (one for each day) in the season’s final stretch from the Show-Me State, the Skyhawks produced 10 doubles over the past 72 hours to give them 79 for the year along with 39 homers. After first baseman Ethan Whitley landed eight RBI in the first two bouts of the series on Friday and Saturday, Brady pushed his season-total to 13 runs batted in by bringing himself and third baseman Nate Self around the bases at the halfway point of the contest.
In the final at-bat of the year for the orange and blue, Smith – playing at the centerfield spot – continued two impressive streaks with a lead-off double in the 9th moments before Mother Nature intervened to cancel the rest of the matchup. The preseason All-OVC selection ends his spring by reaching at least one base in 15 consecutive meetings on an eight-game hitting streak.
Junior Matt Dickey took the starting role in Game 3 against Southeast Missouri, seeing relief from J. Henry Hobson, Noah Walters, Blake Davis, and Trey Ricko. Although the Skyhawks adamantly out-hit the Redhawks over the first two outing this weekend, SEMO was able to turn the tide in the finale to move UTM’s final record to 11-34.
Stay tuned to UTMSports.com over the coming months for further developments as the Skyhawks begin the transition into the 2022 offseason.
Graphic courtesy of UT Martin Sports Information