The University of Tennessee at Martin baseball team rallied for five runs in the eighth to comeback and defeat Eastern Illinois 11-8 in the final game of the weekend series at Skyhawk Field.
TJ Dunsford drove in a team-best four RBIs and led the team in hits with three and smacked a double. TJ Grines (four stolen bases, three runs scored), Colten Payton (three walks, two runs scored, stolen base), Andrew Davis (double, two RBIs) and Garner Anderson (double, two runs scored) were on-base multiple times in the victory.
Maxwell Schumacher started the game for the Skyhawks (21-22, 7-11 Ohio Valley Conference) and pitched six innings and fanned five batters. Will Turner (3-1) closed out the final three innings for UT Martin to secure the win.
Schumacher started the game off on the right foot with a scoreless first inning that led to back-to-back RBI singles from Dunsford and Davis for the Skyhawks to claim a 2-0 lead. The righty Schumacher tossed another zero up on the board in the second with no hits allowed.
Eastern Illinois (24-15, 12-6 OVC) took hold of the advantage in the third and carried the lead into the fourth. UT Martin threw a counterpunch on a squeeze bunt by Amari Conley that scored a run and then Anderson and Grines scored on an error for the Skyhawks to take the lead, 5-4. The Panthers tied things up in the sixth, but the Skyhawks fired back again this time on a Dunsford RBI double to the gap in right center field to make it 6-5 in favor of the home team.
The back-and-forth battle continued when Eastern Illinois retook the lead in the eighth and held a 7-6 edge going into the home half of the inning. UT Martin began its rally when Cameron Greene scored from a wild pitch to tie the game up at seven. Andrew Lawrence pushed a fly ball to right field and Anderson tagged up from third to score and give the Skyhawks an 8-7 lead. Dunsford added on more when he delivered a two-run single with two outs that made it 10-7, UT Martin. Davis helped tack on one more from an RBI double and it was 11-7 Skyhawks going to the ninth.
Turner worked around two runners on base to get the final out of the game with a groundout to short and give the Skyhawks the win.
UT Martin begins a season-long five-game road trip on Tuesday, April 28 at 5 p.m. when it heads to Belmont.
