By Ryne Rickman, UT Martin Sports Information Director
MARION, Ill. – The University of Tennessee at Martin fell in the opening round of the 2023 Ohio Valley Conference Baseball Championship tournament by a score of 7-3 to Tennessee Tech this evening.
Tonight’s postseason setback leaves the Skyhawks with 22 victories on the season (fourth-highest tally in the school’s NCAA Division I Era), including a program-best 14 wins in OVC play.
Tristan Walton made a quality start for UT Martin on the hill, striking out six batters while allowing three runs in six innings. The junior lefty moved into the program’s single-season top-10 in strikeouts as his 73 punchouts are tied for the seventh-most in school history.
The bullpen trio of Campbell Cleveland (0.2 innings), Zach Wager (1.1 frames) and J. Henry Hobson (one inning) combined to allow just one earned run while striking out four batters over three frames.
At the plate, Caleb Hobson went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored while Blaze Bell (two hits, run scored), Jack Culumovic (two hits), Zac Rice (RBI, run scored) and Will Smith (RBI) also chipped in offensively for the Skyhawks.
It was a classic pitcher’s duel early as the game was scoreless through three innings. Walton retired the first six Golden Eagles (21-32) he faced, needing only 19 pitches to accomplish that feat.
UT Martin nearly broke through for the first run of the contest in the bottom of the second. Mac Danford singled through the right side to lead off the frame before Bell crushed a double out to the deepest part of Mtn Dew Park in left center. With a pair of runners in scoring position and no outs, Tennessee Tech managed to get through unscathed after a sliding double play on a foulout and ensuing throw home to cut down the runner.
Walton masterfully worked around potential trouble in the top of the third, striking out the Golden Eagles’ 3-hole hitter with the bases loaded to keep the shutout intact.
Tennessee Tech scored once in each of the next three innings before the Skyhawks got back in the game in the bottom of the sixth. Rice led off the frame by reaching on an error before Caleb Hobson smacked a triple into the gap in right center – tying him for third on the UT Martin single-season list with his sixth 3-bagger of the spring. Smith then brought Caleb Hobson home with an RBI chopper to shortstop, trimming the Skyhawk deficit to 3-2.
The Golden Eagles scored three unearned runs in the top of the seventh but UT Martin kept plugging away. Bell and Culumovic began the frame with back-to-back singles before Rice drove in Bell with a clutch two-out single to make the score 6-3 through seven innings.
After Tennessee Tech tallied its final run of the contest in the top of the eighth, J. Henry Hobson made short work of the Golden Eagles in the top of the ninth, striking out the final two batters he faced in a perfect inning out of the bullpen.
The Skyhawks tried to rally as they led off both the eighth and ninth innings with clean singles up the middle. However, time ran out on UT Martin’s comeback bid.
Graphic courtesy of UT Martin Sports Information