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MARTIN, Tenn. -- With the game tied in the top of the eighth, sophomore first baseman Kane Sweeney drew a walk, extending his reached-base streak to 29 games, before scoring the go-ahead run that allowed the Morehead State baseball team to take down UT Martin, 3-1, Friday night at Skyhawk field.
The Eagles (10-28) broke out of a 13-game losing slump while improving to 5-11 in Ohio Valley Conference play. The Skyhawks fell to 10-27 on the season with a 3-16 mark in the OVC.
The deciding inning came to fruition when Sweeney scored the go-ahead run from second on a wild pitch followed by a UTM throwing error. Sophomore right fielder Brandon Rawe (2-for-4 at the plate) tacked on an insurance run when he drove in senior shortstop Chase Greenwell with an RBI single up the middle.
“We’ve been in a little bit of a rough patch lately, so it felt really good to get out there and get a win today,” Head Coach Mike McGuire said. “Hopefully this can get us back on track.”
The Skyhawks scored the contest’s first run in the bottom of the second on a sacrifice fly from freshman leftfielder Luis Paublini.
From there the starting pitchers took over, combining on four straight scoreless innings. MSU sophomore right-hander Blake Smith allowed only one run in 6.1 innings, while striking out seven.
The Eagles evened things up at 1-1 in the top of the seventh when sophomore centerfielder Duran Elmore drove in Rawe.
Junior right-hander Dan Hyatt (1-1) picked up the win out of the Eagles' bullpen, pitching two scoreless innings while allowing only one hit. Senior righty Matt Duncan coaxed the final two outs for his second save of the season. UTM lefty Carter Smith (0-3) was charged with the loss despite allowing only four hits in seven innings.
Game two of the series is scheduled for a 4 p.m. ET first pitch on Saturday. Links to live stats and audio are scheduled to be available on MSUEagles.com.
