UTM BASEBALL HOLDS SIUE SCORELESS FOR FIRST SIX INNINGS EN ROUTE TO FIRST OVC VICTORY OF 2022

Friday, April 1

Edwardsville, Ill.

5 p.m.

UT Martin

8-15, 1-3

SIUE

10-13, 0-4

UT Martin

SIUE

UTM BASEBALL HOLDS SIUE SCORELESS FOR FIRST SIX INNINGS EN ROUTE TO FIRST OVC VICTORY OF 2022

4/1/2022 8:48:00 PM | Baseball

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EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – A superb pitching performance from the 1-2 punch of sophomore Rhett Fetner and reliever Seth Petry - coupled with a balanced hitting display and clutch defensive sequence in the bottom of the 8^th – supplied the University of Tennessee at Martin baseball team with enough ammunition to snag a Game 1 victory on the road over the Cougars of SIUE on Friday evening, the first win of Ohio Valley Conference significance on the season by a 5-3 clip.

In the second of an eventual five-game road swing just 72 hours after visiting Southern Illinois, the Skyhawks assumed control of the contest from the early stages, not allowing an SIUE player to record a hit until six full innings had already passed. By the time that the Cougars put their first man on-base in the 3^rd inning, the navy and orange had already built a 3-0 advantage that they would only add to and keep for the rest of the series opener.

Will Smith and Jack Culumovic – the first two batters in UTM's order on Friday – finished the encounter with an efficient 6-of-10 mark at the plate (both ending at 3-of-5), and in both of their second turns at-bat in Game 1, they each made their presence felt with three RBI in two swings.

Driving in third-baseman Hunter McLean for his ninth RBI of 2022 in the top of the 3^rd, Smith's run-scoring single perfectly set the stage for a two-score double off the bat of Culumovic just moments later, also bringing home nine-hole hitter Reid Halfacre. The Skyhawks tallied four doubles as a whole and a dagger triple from Smith in the top of the 9^th to round up their season-total to 60 extra-base hits.

While Fetner effectively struck out five of his eight batters faced next to zero hits given up, Petry immediately stepped into the fold at the top of the 3^rd to help UT Martin preserve their growing lead. Tossing the next four innings while keeping the Cougars without a run to their credit until the bottom of the 7^th, the junior turned in perhaps his most impressive individual showing of the semester in his seventh appearance, throwing 64 pitches (44 of which were within the strike zone).

Sprinting home from third-base in the top of the 5^th on a sacrifice fly-ball from shortstop Casey Harford, Halfacre's second run of the evening put the visitors on top by a 4-0 margin, their largest lead of the OVC bout. From there, the Skyhawk defense continued to apply pressure to SIUE, allowing Petry to claim his first win of the year as redshirt-freshman Baylor Jones stepped up to close the game out for the final two and one-third innings.

Managing to cut the UTM lead down to 4-2 approaching the bottom of the 8^th, SIUE sent two men on-base with two outs already recorded to put a little added pressure on a Skyhawk defense that had performed exquisitely up to that point. Jones and co. didn't waiver in a crucial moment, forcing a popup to second-baseman Alec Beaman that cut the rally short.

Smith's 9^th-inning wallop – the team's second triple of the year thus far to grant Halfacre his third run of the outing – firmly put away any seeds of an SIUE comeback, handing UT Martin their 18^th all-time victory over the Cougars and their seventh such win in Edwardsville.

Kicking off the month of April with their sixth win away from home and eighth overall, the Skyhawks will look to clinch the three-game series in less than 24 hours with Game 2 at Simmons Complex, beginning at approximately 1:00 p.m.