For the first time this season, the UTM baseball team had trouble scoring a single record. Ole Miss, a member of the Southeastern Conference, downed the Skyhawks 7-0 Tuesday night at Swayze Field in Oxford.

It was the Skyhawks third consecutive loss and the third time this season the Skyhawks have lost a night game. The Skyhawks fall to 12-19-1 overall, while Ole Miss improves to 25-16.

The Skyhawks kept Ole Miss at bay for the first three innings, but gave up one run in the bottom of the fourth inning and three runs in the bottom of the fifth. Ole Miss tacked on three more runs in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Freshman Justin Bryant gave up five hits and three earned runs in four innings pitched. Jonathan Spiceland pitched two innings and gave up two hits. He struck out two. Freshman Scott Massey worked one inning and gave up three runs, only one earned run, and junior college transfer Jarrad Robinson pitched one inning.

"We didn't pitch poorly," said Tennessee-Martin head coach Bubba Cates. "The difference between us and them was when they had runners in scoring position, they pushed them around and did something. When we had runners in scoring position we left them there."

The Skyhawks managed five hits against Ole Miss. Catcher Ryan Bethel had two hits in two at bats, while Hunter Hart, Brady Nighswonger and Kelly Davis accounted for the other three hits. Bethel has a three-game hitting streak going, while Davis has a five-game streak.

The Skyhawks will return to Ohio Valley Conference action Saturday when they host Morehead State in a doubleheader. Game one will start at 1 p.m. The two teams will also play a single game Sunday afternoon. Game time is set for 1 p.m This past weekend the Skyhawks defeated host Eastern Kentucky University in the first of a three-game series, but lost the last two games. Despite a close third game, Eastern Kentucky rallied to claim an 18-8 win.

The Skyhawks trailed 8-0 going into the top of the fourth inning, but rallied to score eight runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings. Eastern Kentucky added a run in the bottom of the fifth inning and seven runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to blow the game open.

Adam Salter led the Skyhawks at the plate with three hits in five trips. Kelly Davis and Loren Turner were both two-for-five. Turner drove in three runs and had a home run to his credit in the game. The Skyhawks had 10 hits in the game. Five Skyhawk pitchers saw action in the game. Starter Jonathan Spiceland was tagged for the loss. He gave up seven hits and six runs in the 1.2 innings he worked.