UT MARTIN BASEBALL BATTLES BUT DROPS 7-3 DECISION IN SERIES OPENER AT ILLINOIS

Thursday, May 18

Champaign, Ill.

6 p.m.

UT Martin

21-32, 0

Illinois

24-24, 0

UT Martin

Illinois

UT MARTIN BASEBALL BATTLES BUT DROPS 7-3 DECISION IN SERIES OPENER AT ILLINOIS

5/18/2023 10:26:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score PDF Boxscore

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The University of Tennessee at Martin baseball team competed throughout this evening at Illinois but the Skyhawks fell by a 7-3 margin in the first of three games at Illinois Field.

UT Martin (21-32) struck first and held a lead until the bottom of the fourth. The Skyhawks also held a brief advantage after the top of the sixth but the Fighting Illini (24-24) accounted for the final five runs of the contest.

Caleb Hobson led off the game with a homer while Blaze Bell also drove in a run for UT Martin. Will Smith scored twice as seven of the nine Skyhawks in the starting lineup recorded at least one hit.

On the mound, Seth Petry drew the start and shut out the Illinois offense through three innings. Tristan Walton (4-6) followed with three innings while Jordan Armstrong hurled the final two frames for UT Martin. That trio combined to allow four earned runs while whiffing five batters.

Hobson launched the third pitch of the game beyond the wall in left field, trotting around the bases for his sixth home run of the 2023 campaign.

Petry did a masterful job in the bottom of the first, stranding the bases loaded with a called strikeout to keep the Skyhawks on top. The senior righty from Murfreesboro, Tenn. also posted a scoreless inning in the bottom of the second, leaving a pair of runners on the basepaths. He concluded his evening with another zero on the scoreboard in the bottom of the third, pitching around a harmless two-out single.

UT Martin took a 2-0 advantage in the top of the fourth. Smith doubled to left center to lead off the inning before advancing to third on a groundout. Bell then lifted a sacrifice fly to center, allowing Smith to score.

The Fighting Illini evened the score in the bottom of the fourth as one of the two runs were unearned. Walton bounced back to shut down Illinois in the fifth, receiving a key 6-4-3 double play to keep the ballgame knotted at 2-all.

The Skyhawks took another lead in their next at-bat, keyed by a Smith walk to lead off the top of the sixth. He moved up to second base on a groundout and advanced to third on a flyout before scampering home on a wild pitch to push UT Martin ahead by a 3-2 margin.

Illinois scored twice (including one unearned run) in the bottom of the sixth. The Skyhawks put a man in scoring position in each of the next two innings but could not manufacture a run. Meanwhile, the Fighting Illini crossed the plate once in the seventh and two times in the eighth and UT Martin could not mount a ninth-inning rally.

These two teams will meet once again tomorrow as first pitch is set for 6 p.m.