EARLY LEAD NOT ENOUGH FOR UT MARTIN BASEBALL IN 14-4 SETBACK AT SAMFORD

Friday, April 5

Birmingham, Ala.

6 p.m.

UT Martin

11-18

Samford

21-9

UT Martin

Samford

EARLY LEAD NOT ENOUGH FOR UT MARTIN BASEBALL IN 14-4 SETBACK AT SAMFORD

4/5/2019 11:38:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score PDF Boxscore

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The University of Tennessee at Martin baseball team held a three-run lead midway through tonight's nonconference contest at Samford but the host Bulldogs rallied for a 14-4 win in the series opener at JL Griffin Field.

Casey Harford reached base safely three times this evening, scoring a pair of runs to go along with two RBI's. The sophomore from Cordova, Tenn. belted his first round tripper of the season to give the Skyhawks (11-18) a 4-1 advantage in the top of the third inning. Freshman Noah Thigpen also delivered the first multi-hit game of his young career but Samford (21-9) was able to score nine runs in the bottom of the fifth inning and UT Martin would not recover.

On the mound, Austen Bullington drew the start but received the loss (2-4) after allowing five runs over 4.1 innings. David Hussey (0.1 innings), Marcus Eusebio (1.1 innings) and Jeff O'Doherty (two innings) each made relief appearances for the Skyhawks tonight.

Bullington pitched around a two-out double in the bottom of the first to set the scene for the first score of the night. Harford drew a leadoff walk in the second and advanced to third after a Blake Davis single. Ethan Whitley accounted for the first RBI of the contest with a groundout that plated Harford while Reid Pope knocked in Davis with an RBI single to make the score 2-0.

The Bulldogs trimmed their deficit in half with a two-out run in the bottom of the second. UT Martin wasted little time expanding its lead as Sean Dixson led the top of the third off with a single. Three batters later, Harford launched a two-run jack to straightaway center to nudge the Skyhawks ahead by a 4-1 margin.

Bullington breezed through scoreless third and fourth frames but Samford was able to tack on nine runs in the fifth inning. The Bulldogs scored two more runs in the sixth before O'Doherty completed a clean frame in the bottom of the seventh.

Samford added a pair of runs in the eighth to provide the final scoring margin of 14-4. UT Martin had a chance to ignite a rally in the top of the ninth but the offense was stymied in its attempt.

These two teams will meet again for the middle game of the series tomorrow (April 6) as first pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m. The game will be streamed live on ESPN3.