ten martin– tristan walton The University of Tennessee at Martin baseball team won Game 1 against Tennessee Tech 7-2, striking out a career-high 11 batters and earning their fifth win of the season.
Walton (5-4) pitched at least seven innings for the fourth time in his past five games, allowing just two hits. tucker reed After the final two frames, he extended his record of zero earned runs for five consecutive games.
Cole Smith (Three-run home run) mac dunford (Solo home run) used a long ball among his many hits, giving momentum to the Skyhawks (16-25, 8-8 Ohio Valley Conference), who had never been behind in ball games. cameron brady and blaze bell Each had an RBI, but andrew fernandes He recorded 2 hits and 1 run. blaze bell and benny detrude UT Martin also came to bat and outscored the visiting team by a 9-4 margin.
With Skyhawk Field buzzing in the home half, Walton had two strikeouts in the top of the first inning. UT Martin pushed out five runs in his first at-bat. Jalen Fitian Then Fernandez hit back-to-back singles. Bell scored an RBI single on a fielder's choice, then Dunford provided an RBI home run. Cole Smith The Skyhawks took a 5-0 lead and went on to hit three moonshots over the right field wall.
Walton pitched flawlessly in the second inning, picking up two more strikeouts but hitting just eight pitches on target. Tennessee Tech (26-16, 10-6 OVC) scored its only run of the game in the top of the third inning, scoring two runs with two outs.
Dunford responded to one of those second-half points by scoring a team-best 10.th Home run of the year over the batter’s eye – a solo shot that made the score 6-2.
Walton had two more strikeouts in the fourth inning and two more punchouts in the fifth. The left-hander from Clay, Alabama, ended up retiring each of the final seven batters and pitching a perfect sixth and seventh inning, during which only one pitch remained in the infield.
UT Martin then turned the game over to its bullpen, especially Reid. The senior right-hander from Athens, Alabama, held off the Golden Eagles in order in the top of the eighth inning, allowing the Skyhawks to look for a solid run in the bottom half of the frame.
rear Cole Smith After drawing a one-out walk, Detrude appeared as a pinch runner and advanced to third base with a single. hunter mclean. On the next pitch, cameron brady He executed a perfect squeeze bunt to score Detrude and extend the Skyhawk advantage to 7-2.
Reed had two strikeouts in the ninth inning, giving UT Martin's pitching staff 13 punchouts in the game.
The Skyhawks look to win the series tomorrow on ESPN+ starting at 3 p.m.
