Skyhawks Ride Clutch Pitching In 3-2 Win Over The Citadel

Friday, March 13

Martin, Tenn.

5 p.m.

UT Martin

9-8

The Citadel

6-9

The Citadel

UT Martin

Skyhawks Ride Clutch Pitching In 3-2 Win Over The Citadel

3/13/2026 11:19:00 PM | Baseball

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MARTIN, Tenn.- The University of Tennessee at Martin baseball team captured a 3-2 pitcher's duel victory over The Citadel in the first game of the weekend series at Skyhawk Field.

TJ Grines booked his ninth multi-hit game of the season with two doubles and also tallied an RBI and a stolen base. Andrew Davis (walk, RBI, stolen base) kept his 17-game on-base streak alive while Colten Payton extended his team-best hitting streak to 16 games. JT Popick notched a base hit and Cullen Box had a team-high two walks. TJ Dunsford drove in the game-winning run in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Jacob Sitton threw 6.2 innings and punched out six batters while only allowing one earned run. Gehrig Wright (1-2, 1.1 innings, no runs allowed, no hits allowed) and Mason Little (save, one inning, strikeout, no hits, no runs) were clutch out of the bullpen to get UT Martin (9-8) into the win column.

Gallery: (3-13-2026) Baseball vs. The Citadel

The Citadel (6-9) put pressure on the Skyhawks in the first by loading the bases, but the righty Sitton escaped with only one run allowed. UT Martin leveled the score in the bottom part of the frame from a Davis sacrifice fly to score Grines who doubled to lead off the inning.

After a scoreless second and third frame, Sitton faced another bases-loaded jam in the fourth and shutdown the Bulldogs for a second time by forcing a flyout to centerfield. The Skyhawks took their first lead of the game in the fifth when Grines doubled for the second time that allowed Box to score for a 2-1 advantage.

The Bulldogs evened things up in the sixth and loaded the bases once more in the seventh, but Wright disposed the chance off a fielder's choice to second base to keep the contest knotted up. Three straight groundballs meant a perfect inning by Wright in the eighth to give UT Martin an opportunity to take the lead.

Davis drew the leadoff walk on a 3-2 count and stole second to get into scoring position for Dunsford. The Grand Bay, Ala native punched a single up the middle for the Skyhawks to claim a 3-2 lead and put themselves three outs away from the victory.

The tying run for The Citadel got on base in the ninth and sat 90 feet away from tying the ballgame up with two outs. Little bore down and got the second out of the frame from a strikeout looking and gained his fourth save of the season by fielding his position and tossing a groundball to his first baseman Payton to close out the contest.

Game 2 of the weekend series takes place tomorrow at 3 p.m. from Skyhawk Field.