BASEBALL SKYHAWKS FALL TO BELMONT IN NARROW 6-5 DECISION IN SERIES FINALE

Sunday, March 17

Martin, Tenn.

1:00 PM

UT Martin

7-12, 2-4

Belmont

10-9, 5-1

Belmont

UT Martin

BASEBALL SKYHAWKS FALL TO BELMONT IN NARROW 6-5 DECISION IN SERIES FINALE

3/17/2019 5:56:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score PDF Boxscore

MARTIN, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee at Martin baseball squad dropped the series finale against Belmont by a score of 6-5.

UT Martin (7-12, 2-4 OVC) was led by Casey Harford as he got on base all five times that he stepped into the batter's box. The Cordova, Tenn. native tallied four hits and was plunked by a pitch while he also paced the team in RBIs with three on the day. Jordan Stoner notched a two-hit performance as he also drove in one run while Billy Edwards rapped out a base knock and plated a run. Blake Daniels, Blake Davis, Creighton Eldridge and Ethan Whitley all notched one hit apiece.

David Hussey drew the starting nod and tossed two innings baseball as he allowed three earned runs in that span. Austen Bullington (1-3) took the loss as he logged 4.2 innings of work in relief and conceded just one earned run while fanning four Bruins in his time on the bump. Marcus Eusebio finished out the contest as he made a 2.1-inning appearance of no earned runs. He only allowed one hit and issued one walk as he sat down one batter on strikes.

Hussey got off to a solid start as he forced a lineout to open the game. He then allowed a first-pitch single before another flyout but used a nifty pickoff move to get the runner at first.

Belmont would draw first blood as the Bruins tallied a trio of runs in the second inning to take a 3-0 lead.

UT Martin answered with a five-run barrage in the second as Eldridge worked the count to draw a seven-pitch walk and then scooted over to second via a Belmont wild pitch. A Whitley knock to left would put runners at the corners in time for an Edwards hit to left field to plate Eldridge. Another Bruin wild pitch allowed both Whitley and Edwards to move into scoring position followed by Sean Dixson drawing a walk to load the bases. Then Stoner stepped in and tallied an infield single which drove in Whitley. Harford then ripped a bases-clearing double to left to give UT Martin a 5-3 advantage.

Bullington entered the game in the third frame and fanned the first batter he faced. He would finish out the inning by recording the outs by a pair of ground balls. He kept his momentum going into the fourth as he rung up the first and last batters of the frame, working around a one-out hit by pitch. Bullington remained calm in the fifth as he forced the first batter of the inning to ground out followed by a walk, an error and a single to work a double-play ball to end the inning unscathed. He was dealing in the sixth as he needed just six pitches to escape the frame with a trio of popouts to shortstop.

The Bruins added on three runs in the seventh to reclaim the lead by a 6-5 margin and the eventual final score.

The Skyhawks return to action on Tuesday, March 19 when they host Alabama A&M at 6 p.m.