By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
MARION, Ill. – It was a pitcher's duel at Mt. Dew Park Wednesday morning, as the Tennessee Tech baseball team saw its 2024 campaign officially come to an end following a 3-1 loss to UT Martin at the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament presented by SERVPRO.
In a match-up of two All-OVC First Team hurlers, it was the No. 8-seeded Skyhawks' (21-34) Tristan Walton who claimed the edge in the elimination match-up with the No. 5 Golden Eagles' (29-26) Peyton Calitri.
Walton twirled a complete game for UT Martin, striking out 10 and limiting Tech to just one run on three hits and one walk. Calitri completed 7.0 innings for the purple and gold, surrendering three runs on 10 hits with six punch-outs.
Sophomore reliever Brody Lanham finished the final two frames for the Golden Eagles, setting all six batters he faced down with one strikeout.
Tech looked to be on its way to a successful day in the first inning, scoring the first run of the game and picking up a pair of hits along the way. Senior second baseman Troy Baunsgard rifled a one-out double down the right-field line.
Senior catcher Hayden Gilliland followed with a base knock to left-center field, putting runners on the corners. Another senior, first baseman Preston Ford, delivered the lone RBI for the Cookeville crew in the next at-bat, sending a fly ball to center fielder for a sacrifice fly and a 1-0 Tech lead.
Calitri held the Skyhawk offense at bay through the opening four frames, keeping them off the scoreboard with just three hits. UT Martin opened the fifth with a lead-off home run to left field to tie the game at 1-1.
The Skyhawks took control in the sixth, using a base hit and a two-run shot to right field to move out front 3-1. It was all Walton from then on, as the senior held the Golden Eagles to just one, infield single the rest of the way.
Behind his first-inning single, Gilliland finished his four-year Tech career ranked 19th on the program's all-time hits list with 196. He also finished second all-time in school history in runners caught stealing (51), seventh in walks (121), tied for 12th in home runs (30), 15th in on-base percentage (.429), 17th in RBI (131), and 23rd in runs scored (122).
Also wrapping up a special career was Calitri, finishing his three seasons in the purple and gold ranked second in walks/nine innings (2.03), third in strikeout/walk ratio (3.60), tied for fifth in starts (41), tied for eighth in wins (17), eighth in strikeouts (191), and eighth in innings pitched (234.2). He also shattered the school's single-season record for strikeout/walk ratio, topping All-American Ethan Roberts' mark of 5.92 with his own display of 8.50, and the single-season record for walks/nine innings (0.95).
Photo by Thomas Corhern
