Missouri Baseball Sweeps UT Martin in Two-Game Series

The offensive onslaught from the previous game carried over to the game not even 24 hours later. But this time, the scales were more even this time — not quite enough for UT Martin, however.

After putting up 13 runs to run-rule UT Martin in the first game of the series, the Tigers followed last night’s performance with a 15 run affair to earn the sweep. Missouri took the lead in the fifth inning and never gave it back in their 15-9 win.

The game started off with a four-run first thanks to some more small ball. Three singles and a ground out brought all of the runs in for the first, but then longer hits turned the game in the second.

Freshman center fielder Kaden Peer led the long ball off with his first collegiate home run, continuing the scoring in the second inning. The next two Tiger batters, senior third baseman Trevor Austin and senior second baseman Matt Garcia, ripped a double and a triple to add to the Tigers lead.

Many things could be blamed for what happened next, but few would expect that the Tigers lead would disappear that quickly. A six-run third inning flipped the game in the Skyhawks favor.

Missouri had three pitchers appear in the third inning since the first two couldn’t seem to stop the bleeding of runs. The Tiger’s starter freshman Josh McDevitt gave up the first of the inning, before being taken out for graduate Ben Pedersen.

Pedersen’s appearance certainly didn’t go how he wanted. He gave up five more runs, one of them by walking a runner in. He had to be saved by junior Bryce Mayer earning the final out of the inning. Mayer tends to serve the Tigers as a starter, but has taken on more long relief appearances.

The Tigers held the score down for three more innings with the scoreless outing from Mayer, but they weren’t able to score any runs either in the first two of those innings.

Missouri’s offense came back alive with a five-run fifth, punctuated by a three-run from sophomore right-fielder Brock Daniels. Leading Missouri’s offense for the series, Daniels had five hits and brought nine runs in to help them to the wins.

Multiple Tigers had career days yesterday and a few more earned them today. Garcia tied a career high in RBIs with four, Austin tied a career high in runs scored with three and Daniels had a high of hits with three.

Freshman first baseman Jack Holubowski scored in his first two times on base in his collegiate career. Neither of his first two times on base came from a hit or a walk however. His first reach was on a strikeout with a passed ball, allowing him to make it to first. His second reach came from a hit by pitch.

Missouri improves to 12-18 on the season and the Skyhawks drop to 11-19. The Tigers will continue their home stand this weekend with Florida coming to town. First pitch of the series is set for 6 p.m. CT on Friday, April 5. 

How it Happened:

• The Skyhawks tack on another run with two outs in the top of the ninth. 15-9 Tigers
• Tucker Moore enters left field for Jeric Curtis and Victor Quinn takes the mound for the ninth. 
• Ian Lohse enters the game in relief for Bryce Mayer. 
• Matt Garcia hit a single to right to score Jeric Curtis. 15-8 Tigers
• Trevor Austin hit a sacrifice fly to bring in Drew Culbertson in the bottom of the sixth. 14-8 Tigers
• Jack Holubowski came home on Jeric Curtis single to tack another run on. 13-8 Tigers
• Mateo Serna came home on a pitcher error in the bottom of the sixth.  12-8 Tigers
•  Brock Daniels sent a three-run homer down the right field line to give the Tigers the lead. 11-8 Tigers
• Missouri brings in two runs after loading the bases in the bottom of the fifth with a single and a sacrifice fly to even the score again. 8-8 
• UT Martin goes to their bullpen for Baylor Jones in the bottom of the third. Missouri goes to the bullpen for Bryce Mayer in the top of the third. 
• Jackson Cooke singled in two runs to give UT Martin the lead in the top of the third. 8-6 Skyhawks
• UT Martin hit a sacrifice fly to deep center tie the game 6-6
• Drew Culbertson holds on to the ground ball and allows another run to score. 6-5 Tigers
• Ben Pedersen walked in a run in the top of the third inning. 6-4 Tigers
• Ben Pedersen takes the mound for the Tigers with no outs in the third inning after Josh McDevitt gave up a walk and two singles to bring in another UT Martin run. 6-3 Tigers
• Matt Garcia triples to right after a Trevor Austin double to bring in another run. 6-2 Tigers
• Kaden Peer drives his first collegiate home run out of the park in right. 5-2 Tigers
• Hunter McLean sends a homer over the wall in left to cut the lead in half. 4-2 Tigers
• Mateo Serna extended the lead with a single to bring in Brock Daniels. 4-1 Tigers
• Brock Daniels put up another single to bring in Trevor Austin and Juju Stevens grounded out to bring in the third run of the game. 3-1 Tigers
• Missouri evened up the game with a walk and a stolen base from Jeric Curtis with a single of Matt Garcia to bring him in. 1-1 
• UT Martin had a successful double steal that ultimately ended the inning, but not until after the first run scored. 1-0 Skyhawks
• First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m. CT