GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Lukas Graves went 3-for-4, while Craig Goodman posted his seventh win of the season to lead the Tusculum College baseball team to a 6-4 South Atlantic Conference win over visiting Mars Hill College Friday night at Pioneer Park.
Tusculum (28-10, 14-8 SAC) recorded 10 hits on the evening, including two each by Rolondo Bonner, Sean Cotten and Payden Houser. The Lions (19-23, 9-13 SAC) finished with nine hits, including a 2-for-5 performance by Michael Bueker, who leads the nation (NCAA Division II) in hits with 73 on the year.
With the win, coupled by losses by Carson-Newman College and Lincoln Memorial University, the Pioneers have taken over sole possession of second place in the league.
Goodman improves his record to 7-2 on the season, as he went seven innings, allowed eight hits, four runs, one earned, walked none and struck out seven. Michael Franklin, who came aboard in the eighth inning, close out the final two frames to pick up his second save of the year as he allowed one hit in the TC victory.
The Pioneers plated three runs in the first inning when the first three batters led off the frame with singles to load the bases. MHC starter Tyler Stephenson (3-5) looked to get out of the jam as he got Alexi Colon to ground out into a fielder's choice to force Bonner out at the plate. Stephenson got Matt Henriksen swinging, to bring Cody Coffman to the plate. Coffman hit a fly ball to the warning track in right, but the ball bounced out of the glove of Michael Brittian to allow Bonner, Nate Reid and Cotten to score to make a 3-0 TC lead.
Tusculum added two more runs in the fourth inning when Houser reached on a one-out single, moved to third on a failed pickoff attempt and scored on Graves' infield single. Bonner pulled his 10th double of the season to left center to score Graves and a five-run advantage.
The Lions got the two runs back in the sixth thanks to a pair of Tusculum errors and RBI singles by Coty Pate and Christian Diaz to make the score 5-2.
TC made it 6-2 in the bottom of the frame as Branfy Arias was hit by a pitch for a 13th time this year, which is tied for the second most in school history. He moved to third base on Graves third straight hit of the night and later scored on Bonner's fifth sacrifice fly of 2011, upping the Pioneers nation leading total to 29, which is tied for the fifth-most in TC history.
Mars Hill cut into the deficit with a pair of runs in the seventh thanks to three hits and a Tusculum error to make the score 6-4. Dalton Hardee reached on a one-out single and moved two second on Rusty Smith's base hit. Goodman got Adam Lewis to line out to center for the second out, but Brittian lined a single to right field to score Hardee from second. On the play, Graves over ran the ball, allowing Smith to score, but that's as close as the Lions would get.
Lewis also finished with two hits for the visitors, while Smith scored two runs in the loss.
The two teams will close out the series on Saturday with a 3 p.m. doubleheader.
- TC -
