COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – A day that started off as a nightmare
for the Tennessee Tech baseball team, ended in dream-like fashion
Saturday evening. After the Golden Eagles were rocked by UT Martin,
21-5, in the first half of a doubleheader, Tech and UTM took a
scoreless game to the bottom of the seventh, before Tate
McMillian’s walk-off double scored Ben Burgess to seal a 1-0
win for the Golden Eagles.
Lee Henry pitched a complete-game shutout in the nightcap, striking
out seven UTM batters while allowing just five hits, as he improved
to 6-1 on the season.
With the game tied at zero in the bottom of the seventh, Burgess
was hit by a pitch to reach first base with one out. Casanova
Donaldson then singled to left field to put runners on first and
second for Tech. That’s when McMillan blasted a double down
the right field line that scored Burgess to end the game.
In the first game, UT Martin got off to a hot start, and kept
rolling. The Skyhawks scored five runs in the first inning, and
added eight in the second and seven more in the fourth to jump out
to an insurmountable 20-3 lead. UT Martin blasted six home runs in
the game.
Chason Choate pitched the final 5.2 innings of game one, and
allowed three runs on only four hits, while striking out three.
Tech was able to tally 13 hits in the game, but still had trouble
scoring runs.
The teams will play the deciding game of the three-game OVC series
on Sunday at Bush Stadium beginning at 1 p.m. Admission to all Tech
home baseball games is free.