CLEVELAND, Tenn. --- The Lee University baseball team scored three runs in the second inning and made them stick as the Flames defeated visiting Tusculum College 3-1 Tuesday night at Olympic Field.
Lee (30-17-1) used five pitchers over the course of the game and limited the Pioneers (29-19) to one run on seven hits. The Flames avenge a 3-2 loss at Tusculum earlier this month.
Three of Tusculum's hits came from senior first baseman Jeremiah Tullidge as he went 3-for-4 on the evening.
Tusculum starter Zach Slagle suffered the loss as he went 5 1/3 innings, allowed five hits, three runs, four walks and four strikeouts. TC reliever Christian Raasch pitched 2 2/3 shutout innings as he scattered three hits, with no walks and two strikeouts in his 35-pitch performance.
Trailing by two heading to the ninth inning, Lee brought in Chevis Hoover to close out the game, He got the first two outs of the frame, but TC senior catcher Scott Gibson hit a single to center field and senior Nick Rodriguez drew a walk to put the tying runs aboard. Gibson and Rodriguez moved up a base on a field pickoff attempt. But Hoover got out of the jam with a strikeout to end the game and record his second save of the year.
In the Flames' three-run second inning, Ben Holland led off the frame with his 11th home run of the year. Luke Toms hit a one-out double down the right field line. He stole third base prior to MJ Brown drawing a walk to put runners on the corners. Nathan Wierzgac grounded into a RBI fielder's choice to drive in Toms with the inning's second run. He moved to second base on a wild pitch and scored on Josh Tate's RBI single to right field for a 3-0 lead for the home team.
In the third inning, Andrew Bowerman led off with a walk and moved up a base when J.J. Wesley was hit by a pitch. Tullidge singled through the right side of the infield, but Wierzgac threw out Bowerman at the plate for the second out of the inning. The Pioneers salvaged a run out of the inning thanks to Creighton Wilke's RBI single to trim the deficit to 3-1.
Slagle shook off the shaky second inning and limited the Flames to a pair of singles over the next three innings and picked off his fifth runner of the season, which are tied for the second most in single-season at Tusculum.
The Pioneers would be stymied by the Lee pitching staff over the next five innings and got only one runner in scoring position when Rodriguez walked and was stranded at second base in the eighth.
LU reliever Kyle Briner was credited with the victory as he went 2 1/3 innings, allowed three hits and posted two strikeouts.
Tusculum returns to action Wednesday night when they host the University of Virginia's College at Wise for a 7:30 p.m. contest at Pioneer Park.
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