TYLER, TEXAS – UT Tyler baseball wasted no time in picking up their first win of the 2024 season, rolling over Oklahoma Christian 9-3 on Thursday night.
 
Dylan Blomquist got the ball to begin the season for the Patriots, and junior lefty gave the Patriots five solid innings on the way to collecting his first win of the year.
 
Blomquist worked his way through some bumpy situations, as Oklahoma Christian grouped three singles together in the second inning to push across the first run and then followed it up with a sacrifice fly. Blomquist had the answer though, quieting the rally with a perfect pickoff to first base to nail the runner.
 
In the third, the Eagles struck again with a solo home run to right field, but Blomquist again had the answers with a strikeout and groundout to end the inning.
 
The Patriots offense threatened throughout the first two innings, both times leaving multiple runners on base. The big break came in the third, as Austin Ochoa dropped in a one out single to right field and then immediately scored on the Kaston Mason double deep to right center. Two batters later, Ethan Menard drove in another key run with a single to center to cut the lead down to just one.
 
Blomquist continued the shutdown trend in the fourth, allowing a two out double but inducing a weak ground out to get out of the jam.
 
The Patriots responded on offense to their third inning with some small ball, as Blake LaBuda hustled his way to second on a dropped popup in the infield. A fly ball to right field moved him over to third, and then Lane Hutchinson provided the heroics with a roped single to center to tie the game.
 
The big play of the evening for Blomquist came in the fifth inning, as the Patriots were looking to begin to put the pressure back on Oklahoma Christian. A leadoff walk put a runner aboard, and a bloop single to left field put a pair on with one out. Blomquist again found his way out of the jam, inducing a huge 5-4-3 double play.
 
In the bottom half of the inning, the Patriots picked up a pair of walks around a pair of strikeouts to put the pressure on, and LaBuda drew a hit by pitch to load the bases. That brought the top half of the order back up, and Kyle Atkinson delivered with a double right down the right field line that scored all three runners and gave the Patriots a 6-3 lead.
 
That lead would grow yet again in the sixth, as a single and another hit by pitch put two on for Menard, and he came up clutch with a monster home run to left center to make it 9-3 in favor of UT Tyler.
 
That monster inning came in the middle of Nick Niebur's relief appearance of Blomquist, as he faced just six batters and struck out a pair while allowing just one ball to reach the outfield in a dominant showing.
 
He would hand the ball over to Josh Pelfrey to begin the eighth, and the young freshman delivered with three straight groundouts in the inning. He would again get the ball in the ninth to close out the contest, and he posted a strikeout, flyout, and groundout to finish off the Eagles in game one and secure the Patriots victory.
 
Ethan Menard posted a huge 2-for-3 night with four RBI and the huge three run home run.
 
Jordan Ardoin and Hutchinson would also pick up two hits in the contest, and Atkinson drove in three total runs.
 
Dylan Blomquist begins his year with a win, going five full innings while scattering nine hits and three runs while striking out two.
 
Both Niebur and Pelfrey went a pair of innings, combining for three strikeouts while allowing no hits and no walks.