By Ryne Rickman, UT Martin Sports Information Director
MARION, Ill. – On the eve of the 2023 Ohio Valley Conference Baseball Championship tournament, the University of Tennessee at Martin racked up the hardware as five different Skyhawks combined to nab seven postseason accolades.
Zach Wager received the most recognition this evening as he was voted OVC Freshman of the Year as well as landing a spot on the All-OVC second team and OVC All-Freshman squad. Andrew Fernandez was named to the All-OVC first team while Blaze Bell, Mac Danford and Caleb Hobson joined Wager on the All-OVC second team.
Tonight’s announcement marks the most All-OVC honorees (five) for the Skyhawk program in school history. The previous record was four (all second-team recipients) in 2010.
Wager becomes the first UT Martin representative to bring home the OVC Freshman of the Year award, which was first handed out in 2005. The 6-1, 170-pound collegiate rookie often performed like a seasoned veteran in 2023, going 2-1 with four saves (ranking fifth in the OVC, seventh in Skyhawks’ single-season NCAA Division I history). He pitched to a microscopic 2.30 ERA in 21 appearances (five starts) and was even better against OVC competition, locking down a 1.08 ERA while holding batters to a paltry .228 batting average with one extra-base hit allowed over 16.2 frames. Overall, he whiffed 39 batters (against just 19 walks) with just 38 hits allowed over 43 innings of work, not conceding an earned run in 14 of his 21 overall appearances. The lefty out of Columbus, Ind. rose to the occasion in the biggest moments, going 2-0 in a weekend series against eventual OVC regular season champion Morehead State (April 28-30) and earning a pair of saves in one-run decisions against two-time defending OVC champion Southeast Missouri (May 12-14). He is only the third UT Martin reliever to earn All-OVC second team status (all coming during the Ryan Jenkins Era) and is just the 16th Skyhawk (fourth primary pitcher) to secure OVC All-Freshman honors.
A Kissimmee, Fla. native, Fernandez has been a revelation all season and is the seventh UT Martin player (first shortstop) to nab All-OVC first team accolades. The 5-7, 180-pound junior started the middle 53 games of the spring, becoming the first Skyhawk to lead the OVC in hits at the end of the regular season since All-American Bryant Jones in 2004. In addition to hits (79), he paced the league in doubles (21 – second-most in UT Martin history) and assists (140) while ranking in the top-10 in RBI’s (53, fourth-highest tally in Skyhawk history), batting average (.350) and total bases (127). He wore out OVC pitching to the tune of a .375 batting average and .661 slugging percentage courtesy of a league-high 42 hits (18 of which went for extra bases). The switch hitter topped UT Martin with 23 multi-hit games (including five-hit performances in his Skyhawk debut at Belmont on Feb. 18 and again at Lindenwood on May 7) and 16 multi-RBI performances (season-best five runs driven in at Austin Peay on April 4). He laced multiple extra-base hits on 10 separate occasions, including a multi-homer game on May 5 at Lindenwood. His longest hitting streak of the season came on March 18 through April 8 when he hit safely in 14 consecutive games. He provided one of the best moments of the season on May 14 when his walkoff double in the bottom of the ninth gave UT Martin its first sweep over two-time defending OVC champion Southeast Missouri since 2006. He joined Danford as the only players in school history to nab OVC Player of the Week accolades twice in a single season, winning that award on March 27 and May 15.
Tonight’s announcement marks the second OVC postseason honor for Bell, who was named an OVC All-Freshman in 2022. The redshirt sophomore out of Murfreesboro, Tenn. logged 52 starts at first base in 2023, ranking in the top-10 in the OVC in defensive chances (406, second), putouts (383, second), doubles (17, third) and triples (three, seventh). In league play, his three triples led the league while his .391 batting average ranked eighth. He accumulated 18 multi-hit games – including a career-best four base knocks at Lindenwood on May 5 – and drove in a season-high three RBI’s twice in a six-day span (May 7 at Lindenwood, May 12 against Southeast Missouri). In the aforementioned May 7 contest at Lindenwood, he reached base safely four times (double, single, two walks) and scored a career-high three runs to go along with his season-best three RBI’s. He performed especially well down the stretch, wrapping up the regular season with a scorching .455 batting average (25-for-55) during a 14-game hitting streak. He becomes only the second first baseman in Skyhawk history to be named to the All-OVC second team (joining Bryan Bullington from 1995).
Danford provided UT Martin with an imposing offensive presence throughout the spring, ranking in the top-10 in OVC play in batting average (.414, third), doubles (nine, third), hits (36, sixth) and slugging percentage (.713, ninth). Overall, the junior right-handed slugger from Grand Ridge, Fla. ranked seventh in the league in batting average (.349), eighth in slugging percentage (.621) and ninth in doubles (14). Over the final 34 games of the season, he raked to the tune of a .390 batting average (53-for-136) – cranking all 10 of his home runs in his last 27 contests. He homered in three straight games from May 6-9 and was responsible for a pair of multi-home run performances (against Austin Peay on April 12, at Illinois on May 19). All in all, he posted 17 multi-hit games (including a career-best four hits on four separate occasions) and drove in multiple runs in 12 different outings – including a career-high five RBI’s in the previously mentioned April 12 contest against Austin Peay. He shot a walkoff single in the bottom of the ninth for a dramatic 9-8 win over SIUE on April 1, which was his seventh hit of the doubleheader. Starting at least five games at three different positions, he solidified the third base spot as he committed only three errors in 81 chances (.963 fielding percentage) over 32 starts at the hot corner. He won OVC Player of the Week accolades on April 17 and May 8, becoming the first player in Skyhawk history to win that award twice in a season. He is just the fourth UT Martin third baseman to be named to the All-OVC second team and first since former MLB Draft pick Trey Karlen in 2010.
A Pontotoc, Miss. native, Hobson made significant dents in the Skyhawk record book during his junior campaign. The 6-0, 180-pound centerfielder equaled the program’s single-game hit mark after going a perfect 6-for-6 at Lindenwood on May 7, tying the record originally held by Scott McLean from 2007. He also set the program’s NCAA Division I record for stolen bases (an OVC-best 36 swipes which ranks seventh nationally) while ranking in the school’s top-five in the Division I Era in walks (38, second), triples (five, third), runs scored (54, fifth) and games played (55, fifth). In OVC play, he ranked in the top-10 in a remarkable nine different statistical categories, including triples (three, first), fielding percentage (1.000, first), walks (22, second), stolen bases (13, second), hits (37, fourth) on-base percentage (.500, fourth), runs scored (29, sixth), batting average (.385, ninth) and RBI’s (26, ninth). He has been blazing at the dish since April 12, generating a slash line of .421/.500/.674 with 12 extra-base hits, 27 runs scored and 24 RBI’s over the final 22 games of the regular season. Primarily batting out of the leadoff spot, he has accounted for 22 multi-hit games and 10 multi-RBI games, including a career-best four-RBI performance against eventual OVC regular season champion Morehead State on April 30. From April 1 through May 18, he boasted a 27-game stretch where he reached base safely, lasting seven games more than any other teammate’s streak in 2023. He is only the sixth UT Martin outfielder to ever find his name on the All-OVC second team list.
The No. 3 seed Skyhawks will make their OVC Championship tournament debut tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. when they face the winner of the No. 6 Tennessee Tech/No. 7 SIUE contest at Mtn Dew Park.
Graphic courtesy of UT Martin Sports Information