CARY, NORTH CAROLINA – The UT Tyler Baseball team bounced back from their opening game loss by avoiding elimination with a 6-2 victory over Felician on Monday afternoon. The Patriots tallied six runs on 12 hits while capitalizing on four Felician errors, and the pitching staff limited the opposition to just two runs.
Both teams recorded a single in the first inning but were held scoreless. UT Tyler threatened in the second with two runners aboard but couldn't break through, while starter Kyle Froehlich retired the Felician lineup in order in the second and third innings.
The Patriots broke through in the fourth. After a one-out single, Bryce Jewell stole second, advanced to third on a throwing error, and came around to score on another miscue to give UT Tyler a 1-0 lead. Felician quickly answered with a solo home run in the bottom half to tie the game at 1-1.
UT Tyler responded in the fifth with a three-run frame. A single and a double put two runners in scoring position for Drew Schmidt, who blasted his eighth home run of the season over the left-field fence, giving the Patriots a 4-1 lead.
Froehlich continued to cruise, retiring Felician in order again and working around a two-out double in the sixth. Felician trimmed the lead to 4-2 in the seventh with a pair of doubles and a single. With two outs and runners on second and third, Nick Niebur entered the game and induced a flyout to escape the jam.
The Patriots tacked on two insurance runs in the ninth. A double, a single, and a wild pitch made it 5-2, and two more singles combined with an error extended the lead to the final score of 6-2.
Froehlich earned his 10th win of the season, remaining unbeaten. He tossed 6.2 innings on just 79 pitches, allowing two runs on seven hits while striking out five. Niebur earned his fourth save of the season with 2.1 scoreless, hitless innings, striking out three and lowering his ERA to 1.43 out of the bullpen.
Offensively, seven Patriots recorded at least one hit, with four notching multi-hit games. The top three hitters in the lineup combined to go 7-for-13 with four runs scored. Ethan Menard led off and went 2-for-3 with a run, Justin Williams followed with a 2-for-5 performance and a run scored, while Schmidt capped the trio with a 3-for-5 day, tallying two runs and three RBI. Schmidt is now hitting .417 with 98 hits on the season.
With the win, UT Tyler improves to 49-12 and advances to face the loser of the Northwest Nazarene vs. Tampa matchup on Tuesday at 5 p.m. Central Time.
