WHITLEY POWERS UTM BASEBALL PAST EVANSVILLE IN 8-4 WIN

Wednesday, April 24

Martin, Tenn.

6:00 PM

UT Martin

16-24

Evansville

19-18

Evansville

UT Martin

WHITLEY POWERS UTM BASEBALL PAST EVANSVILLE IN 8-4 WIN

4/24/2019 10:24:00 PM | Baseball

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MARTIN, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee at Martin baseball team notched an 8-4 victory over regional rival Evansville this evening behind the stellar performance of Ethan Whitley.

UT Martin (16-24) was led at the plate by Whitley as they Mason, Tenn. native tallied a two-hit performance that included a three-run blast and a solo shot as he paced the club in RBIs with four. Jordan Stoner and Hayden Cooper racked up a pair of knocks and an RBI each in the outing while the duo of Casey Harford and Blake Davis tallied a hit and an RBI apiece. Rounding out the Skyhawks in the hit column was Blake Daniels with a couple of knocks and Noah Thigpen with one in the game. Stoner worked his way on base a total of three times as he earned a walk while Davis also drew a free bag.

Seth Petry (3-1) was superb tonight as he tied his career high in innings pitched with five complete frames on the mound. He allowed just two hits, one earned run and a walk while he fanned four Purple Aces in his time toeing the rubber. Marcus Eusebio, David Hussey and Zach Denney all filed in after Petry was done and combined for 2.2 innings and scattered a trio of earned runs between them while they recorded a total of four strikeouts along the way. Nick Wohlbold picked up his eighth save of the season which is tied for the most in a season (Patrick Bernard, 2015) and ranks tied for second-most in a career (Dan Tobik, 2010-13, Chadwick Cameron 2006-07 and Frank Perez 1986-87).

Petry came out dealing as he required just six pitches to breeze through the opening frame. He forced a foulout to first on the first pitch to the first batter followed by a swinging strikeout and capped off the inning with a first-pitch flyout to center.

UT Martin wasted little time getting on the scoreboard as Stoner led off the contest with a six-pitch free base. Daniels then roped a single to center on the first pitch he saw. A Harford groundout allowed both runners into scoring position just before a Davis groundball out plated Stoner to give the Skyhawks an early 1-0 advantage.

Petry worked around a leadoff hit by pitch followed by a single to induce a double play ball to third base for a force out. He then found another friendly groundball to short to end the inning unscathed.

The Skyhawks put up another run in the second as Cooper opened the inning with a single to center field before Thigpen poked a knock through the left side of the infield to put a pair of runners on. Stoner then ripped his own single through the left side that was hit well enough to bring in Cooper and pus the UT Martin lead out to 2-0.

Evansville put up a run in the third inning to inch back by a score of 2-1 but not before Petry recorded a pair of strikeouts in the frame. In the fourth, Petry retired the side in order via a pair of flyouts with a caught-looking strikeout sandwiched in between.

In the fourth, Whitley found the first of his home runs as he saw a ball he liked with an 0-2 count. He sent the moonshot over the left field fence to put UT Martin up by a score of 3-1.

Petry's last inning of work (the fifth) was another 1-2-3 affair as he found a pair of friendly flyball outs and a groundout to third, respectively, to finish his day.

The Skyhawks put up four runs in the fifth inning as Harford got things going by being plunked and then moved up to second on a passed ball. Davis then won a 10-pitch battle to earn a free base and put a couple of runners on the base paths. A Cooper single up the middle allowed Harford to come home. An Evansville wild pitch moved both Davis and Cooper into scoring position but they would not need the help as Whitley stepped back into the batter's box and crushed a three-run blast off the scoreboard to give his club a 7-1 advantage.

Over the next three innings, the Purple Aces would tally one run per frame to take a score of 7-4 into the bottom of the eighth.

In the eighth inning of action, UT Martin put up one more run as Stoner tallied a two-out double to left center to get the frame going. A Daniels infield knock to second base put runners at the corners before Harford roped a first-pitch single to left field that plated Stoner and gave the Skyhawks an 8-4 lead.

Wohlbold had entered the game in the top of the eighth to record the last out of the frame. He came back out in the ninth to secure his single-season tying eighth save. He worked around a leadoff two-bagger to center to force a flyout and groundout. He conceded one more base runner via a walk but induced a pop up to first base to close the door.

"It was good to see our offense swing the bat well tonight," head coach Ryan Jenkins said. "They carried over their success from this past weekend into the game this evening. On the mound, Seth Petry was outstanding. We struggled a little bit on the back end of the contest which made it a little interesting so we need to get those guys back to commanding the baseball and throwing strikes. Ethan Whitley swung at good pitches tonight and that led to his success. You are starting to see some of the younger guys getting better looks at pitches which is starting to translate. We look to take our success on the offensive side of things into this weekend against Eastern Illinois."

UT Martin heads to Ohio Valley Conference opponent Eastern Illinois this weekend for a three-game set against the Panthers. First pitch on Friday, April 26 is slated for 3 p.m.