Baseball Heads to UT Martin for Three-Game Series

Live Stats

FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The IPFW baseball team will return to action this weekend with a three-game series against the University of Tennessee at Martin. The first game of the series will be played on Friday, Feb. 22 at 3 p.m. The Mastodons are currently 2-2 overall after opening weekend.

IPFW defeated Indiana State on a neutral field in the season opener 2-0. The Sycamores were crowned as the 2012 MVC Regular Season Champions and came into the game with one of the top pitchers in the country in Sean Manaea.

Before the start of the season, Manaea was selected to the Preseason Golden Spikes Award Watch List. The Golden Spikes award is presented by USA Baseball at the end of the season to the top amateur baseball player in the country. Manaea threw four full innings against IPFW and the Mastodons were able to score one run off four hits against the junior. Manaea was replaced by Josh Negele in the inning, but IPFW added an insurance run to grab a 2-0 victory.

Cold weather conditions changed the schedule of the 2013 Bulldog Classic hosted by Alabama A&M. IPFW moved their single game against Morehead State up to Saturday and then played two against the Bulldogs on Sunday. Morehead State defeated IPFW 11-6 and the 'Dons split the doubleheader against Alabama A&M on Sunday.

Chuck Weaver took the loss against Morehead State. Weaver threw four innings and allowed seven earned runs. Nate White and Zach Kayser finished out the game throwing three and two innings respectively.

Kristian Gayday was 2-for-4 on Saturday and Clay Hathaway went 1-for-3 with two RBI's. Joining Hathaway with a two-RBI day was catcher Caleb Fenimore.

The Mastodons took a tough 6-7 loss in game one of the doubleheader on Sunday, but they responded to record a 7-6 win in the nightcap. Markus Kalber was lights out in the first game going 4-for-5 with four doubles and two runs scored. Kalber was honored as the Summit League Baseball Player of the week for hitting .500 through the first four games of the season. Evan VanSumeren and Hathaway added three hits each, but the Mastodons fell in the bottom of the tenth inning to the Bulldogs.

The final game of the weekend evened the IPFW overall record at 2-2. Steve Danielak got the win on the hill as he threw four innings while striking out two batters. Travis Reboulet came out of the bullpen to earn the save.

Brandon Soat, Shane Trevino, and Kalber each recorded two hits in game two. Trevino did the most damage with a solo home run and a double on the day. Kristian Gayday also got involved with a two-RBI double.

The Mastodons will face the Skyhawks this weekend as UT Martin is still in search of their first win of the season. The Skyhawks lost three games at Southeastern Louisiana and then dropped a pair of mid-week games vs. Southern Illinois and at No. 8 Ole Miss.

Wade Collins has started in all five games for the Skyhawks and he leads the team with a .467 batting average. The pitching rotation for UT Martin this weekend will start with Dan Tobik who will throw on Friday followed by the lefty Taylor Cox who will take the hill on Saturday. The final Skyhawk to appear will be Alex Boshers who will appear on Sunday.

Tobik has one start under his belt and a 6.75 ERA. He allowed nine hits through four innings which resulted in four runs, three of which were earned. Tobik struck out five and walked one in his first outing of the year.

Cox threw 4.2 innings in his first start of the season. He enters the weekend with a 1.93 ERA and three strikeouts. Boshers has similar numbers to Tobik in that he has one start, no decision, and an ERA of 6.75. He threw four innings, gave up six runs (three earned) and struck out five.

~ Feel the Rumble ~

Purdue University Fort Wayne Athletics

Baseball Heads to UT Martin for Three-Game Series

Related News

Next Event

Related Videos