GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Carlos Rivera and
Maikol Gonzalez recorded three RBI each to lead
the No. 29 Tusculum College baseball team to an 11-7 win over
visiting King College Tuesday night at Pioneer Park. Tusculum
(34-12) completes the season sweep over the Tornado (26-11), while
winning its 10th game in its last 11 outings.
A dozen pitchers saw action in the nine-inning contest, including
Tusculum's Tyler Collins, who pitched 2 1/3 innings of shutout
relief to improve his record to 4-0 on the year.
Tusculum sent 11 batters to the plate in a six-run, second inning,
including a three-run triple by Rivera and a two-run single from
Eric Conley as the Pioneers jumped out to a 7-0 advantage.
But King would chip away at the deficit as the Tornado scored
three runs in the third and two more in the fourth. In the third
inning, Justin Reising and Drew Trujillo drew a pair of lead-off
walks in the third. Joe Craven singled and Mike Torrence came
through with a two-run double. In the fourth Matt Morris clubbed a
two-run homer to left field, his second of the season, to cut the
TC lead to 7-5.
Tusculum got a run back in the bottom of the frame as Matt Webb
doubled to left field and scored on Sean Cotten's two-out single as
the Pioneers led 8-5.
In the middle innings, both bull pens stepped up as Collins
induced a double-play ground out to end the fifth and proceeded to
retire the side in order in the fifth. King's Eric Allen was most
impressive as he retired all nine batters he would face, including
three strikeouts to keep the Tornado in the game.
In the eighth inning, King plated an unearned run as Ryan Kennedy
reached on an infield single, but moved to second on a throwing
error. After a passed ball moved Kennedy to third, Morris answered
the call once again with his double to the gap in right field as
King was down only by two (8-6).
The Pioneers fought back with three runs in the eighth, including
a two-out single by Gonzalez as Tusculum led 11-6, to seal the
win.
Eight different players recorded a hit on the night for Tusculum,
including Gonzalez as he extended his hitting streak to 22
consecutive games. Christian Rosa went 1-for-4,
but scored three runs. King got two-hit performances from
Teon Richburg, Craven and Morris, while Kennedy
plated a pair of runs in the contest.
Tusculum, the No. 3 seed in this year's Food Lion South Atlantic
Conference Tournament, will take on tournament host Lenoir-Rhyne
College on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in day one of the six-team,
double-elimination format.
- TC -