Friday, March 6
Martin, Tenn.
3 p.m.
UT Martin
vs
Southeast Missouri
UT MARTIN OPENS UP A NEW CHAPTER WITH OVC PLAY STARTING
3/5/2020 1:00:00 PM | Baseball
MARTIN, Tenn. - Just two days removed from the University of Tennesse at Martin's baseball home opener, the Skyhawks are diving into another first for the season. Tomorrow UT Martin is set to host its first leg of the competition in the OVC as Southeast Missouri comes to Skyhawk Field.
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With the first game set for Friday, March 6, the Skyhawks (4-8) and Redhawks (7-6) will duel it out for early season OVC supremacy. Both teams come into the matchup with quality wins in non-conference play, making this the game to watch. For UT Martin victories over South Alabama and St. Louis proved that they could hang with the best of them. SEMO comes in with a similar resume as they boast a series sweep of Ohio and hold an extra-inning victory over Northern Illinois.
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The matchup will have an emphasis on the ability to hit in big situations as SEMO comes in with the third-best offense in the OVC. UT Martin sits at eighth in the conference but places seventh in hits while playing fewer games than the majority of their competition. Both squads are led by multiple hitters that can make an impact on the game with one swing. The Skyhawks leaders consist of majority of the players in the top half of the order. Freshman Christian Hall, who has been utilized in the second and third spots for the majority of the contests this season, leads the team in both batting average (.375) and on-base percentage (.490). Senior Sean Dixson plays his role as the power hitter in the lineup as he leads the team in home runs (4) and is tied for first in RBIs with junior Houston Wright (9).
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The starters for the Skyhawks is set to be freshman Eric Steensma (Friday), senior Sam Folks (Saturday) and sophomore Seth Petry (Sunday). Those three will face a tough task against the hitters of the Redhawks as senior Justin Dirden is the leader of the squad. Dirden currently has the OVC lead for home runs (7) and is second on his team for batting average (.404).
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UT Martin will hope to combat their recent luck as they head into this matchup as they have dropped the last five games. SEMO comes in with a different situation as they have won their past five games. However, coming into conference play compared to non-conference is an entirely different animal. Records restart as the only goal now is to win as many OVC games as possible to hoist that conference crown.
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The Skyhawks will begin that journey to try and win their first-ever conference crown tomorrow at 3 p.m. For live-stats, follow along with the link above and follow @utm_baseball for quick up to date tweets all season long.
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