UT MARTIN BASEBALL CLINCHES PLAYOFF BERTH WITH 8-1 WIN OVER TENNESSEE TECH ON SENIOR DAY

Saturday, May 18

Martin, Tenn.

1:00 PM

UT Martin

24-29, 12-18

Tennessee Tech

22-32, 9-21

Tennessee Tech

UT Martin

UT MARTIN BASEBALL CLINCHES PLAYOFF BERTH WITH 8-1 WIN OVER TENNESSEE TECH ON SENIOR DAY

5/18/2019 5:49:00 PM | Baseball

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MARTIN, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee at Martin baseball team claimed a spot in the Ohio Valley Conference Baseball Championship with today's 8-1 win over Tennessee Tech.

The sweep of the Golden Eagles mark the first time since 1994 that the Skyhawks have taken all three games from Tennessee Tech and the first over an OVC foe since 2017 (SIUE).

UT Martin (24-29, 12-18 OVC) was led at the dish by senior outfielder Jordan Stoner as he plated a team-high three runs. Blake Davis paced the Skyhawks in hits with a pair of knocks on the day while also driving in one run. Also collecting a hit and an RBI in the contest was the trio of Sean Dixson, Creighton Eldridge and Casey Harford. Blake Daniels did not hit safely in the game but he was issued three walks to lead the club in free passes.

Southpaw Sam Folks (5-6) was outstanding in his six innings of shutout baseball. The Franklin, Tenn. native allowed just three hits and three walks as he fanned a career-high nine batters. Senior righty Zach Denney came on for one inning of relief work as he conceded just one hit and one hit batsman in a scoreless frame. Nick Wohlbold tossed the final two frames of the day as he allowed one earned run. He did however ring up a trio of Golden Eagles in his time toeing the rubber.

Folks faced some slight resistance in the opening frame as he issued a walk to the first batter but found a friendly fly ball to right field followed by a strikeout to retire the next two batters. He would allow a single but forced the final batter he faced to ground out to the shortstop to avoid any trouble. Folks made fairly quick work of Tennessee Tech in the second inning as he forced a fly out to open the frame and followed that up with a swinging strikeout. He issued a four-pitch walk but found a groundball to second base to end the inning.

UT Martin made the most of its time in the second inning as seven Skyhawks scored in the frame. Daniels got the big inning going as he drew a six-pitch free base before a Whitley fielder's choice just left Whitley on the base paths. Billy Edwards would work the count for a six-pitch walk of his own before Cox battled for a 10-pitch free base as well to load up the bases. Sticking with the theme, Dixson earned a walk as well on six pitches which plated Whitley. An Eldridge single back to the pitcher would be good enough to bring in Edwards. Stoner hit his 34^th career double to move him into sixth all-time in program history. His two-bagger would clear the bases as the trio of Cox, Dixson and Eldridge all came home. Stoner would move up to third base on a wild pitch before a Harford double down the left field line brought in Stoner. A Davis knock to center drove in Harford to give UT Martin a 7-0 advantage.

Folks got back to work in the third inning as he sat down the side in order via fly out to center, swinging strikeout and groundout to second, respectively. He chugged right along in the fourth as he fanned the first two batters of the frame and induced a ground ball to second base to end the inning. Folks recorded the first two outs of the fifth via strikeout before allowing a pair of singles and a walk. He kept his composure though as he got another swinging strikeout to work out of the pickle.

The Skyhawks brought home another run in the fifth as Edwards got the frame going after being plunked. Cox would also get on via hit by pitch. Later, Edwards moved over to third on a wild pitch just before Eldridge would earn a four-pitch free base. Another wild pitch would allow Edwards to scoot home and push the UT Martin lead out to 8-0.

In his final inning, Folks would work around a leadoff hit by pitch situation to fan the next batter. He then forced a pop out to the catcher followed by a line out to third base.

Denney would come on in the sixth and worked around a leadoff double followed by a hit by pitch as he forced a lineout that worked into a double play. He then induced a ground out to third base to end the inning.

Wohlbold entered the contest in the eighth and sat down the side in order during his first inning of work. He bookended the frame with looking strikeout with a pop out to third sandwiched in between. In the ninth, he was tagged for a run but recorded one strikeout in the process as he secured the postseason play for the Skyhawks.

"Going in to the weekend, we knew that we had our backs up against the wall," head coach Ryan Jenkins said. "We told the guys to just go out on the field and take care of business and didn't come into the weekend worrying about what other teams were doing. Across the board, our starting pitching was outstanding this weekend. Sam did a great job today and the back end of our bullpen did a fantastic job all weekend as well. We have a lot of leadership in this senior group and they have made the other guys take ownership all year long and you see that paying off now. We are definitely playing good baseball right now and this is where all of that hard work starts to pay dividends."

UT Martin will take on Eastern Illinois in the first round of the OVC Baseball Championship on Tuesday, May 21 at Rent One Park in Marion, Ill. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.