SKYHAWK BASEBALL FALLS TO SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 15-3 IN SEASON OPENER

Friday, February 15

Russellville, Ark.

4:00 PM

UT Martin

0-1

South Dakota State

1-0

South Dakota State

UT Martin

SKYHAWK BASEBALL FALLS TO SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 15-3 IN SEASON OPENER

2/15/2019 9:58:00 PM | Baseball

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RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – The University of Tennessee at Martin baseball team dropped its first game of the 2019 campaign but not before the Skyhawks made a push in the final frame before falling by a 15-3 margin to the South Dakota State Jackrabbits.

UT Martin (0-1) was led offensively by sophomore Blake Daniels' pair of pinch-hit RBIs. Junior outfielder Sean Dixson paced the club with a pair of hits as Jordan Stoner, Billy Edwards and Daniels all collected a base-knock apiece. Casey Harford and Creighton Eldridge each worked the count to draw two walks each as Ethan Whitley drew one walk.

Right-handed junior Winston Cannon (0-1) was tagged with the loss as he issued six earned runs in his 3.2-inning start but not before he whiffed a trio of Jackrabbits. Fellow righty junior Jefferey O'Doherty proved extremely effective as he came on in relief and recorded five strikeouts in just 1.1 innings on the mound all while allowing no earned runs. Freshman right-hander Marcus Eusebio was called upon next and sat down a pair of batter via the punchout in one inning while senior righty Austin Buzick rung up five South Dakota State batters in his two innings of work. Freshman right-handed pitcher Seth Petry was near perfect in his one inning pitched as he issued just one walk and sat down one batter along the way.

Cannon made quick work of the Jackrabbits in the opening frame of action as he retired the side in order on a strikeout, flyout and groundout, respectively. The Skyhawks looked to open the scoring in the home half of the first as Dixson led off with a single to right field followed by Stoner getting hit by a pitch but to no avail.

South Dakota State tallied a total of 15 runs over the next six innings but went dry in the final two frames of baseball.

UT Martin then circled the wagons for a final push as Harford led off the bottom of the ninth with a six-pitch walk and then stole second and advanced to third base on a wild pitch. Eldridge then worked the count for a seven-pitch free base of his own and swiped second before Whitley drew yet another walk on an eight-pitch battle to juice the bases. Daniels then stepped into the box in a pinch-hit situation but not before a Jackrabbit wild pitch allowed the runners to move up and Harford to score and get the Skyhawks on the board. Daniels ripped a single up the middle in time for Eldridge and Whitley to cross home and give UT Martin another couple of runs.

The Skyhawks take on South Dakota State in Game 2 of the series tomorrow with first pitch slated for 1 p.m.