KODAK, Tenn. --- No. 3 seed Tusculum College and top-seed Catawba College have been declared 2016 Pilot/Flying J South Atlantic Conference Baseball Tournament Co-Champions.

Severe weather which included heavy rains, hail and lightning moved into the Kodak, Tennessee area in the eighth inning which rendered the Smokies Stadium field unplayable. Tusculum held a 6-5 advantage after the seventh inning, which was the last completed full inning before the storms arrived to cause the second weather delay of the day.

Catawba (34-18), the 2016 regular season champion, earns the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Division II postseason per the conference's policy regarding unfinished tournaments. The Catawba Indians claim their seventh SAC Tournament championship in school history, while Tusculum (36-16) wins the SAC Tournament crown for a fourth time.

Tusculum went 4-1 in the tournament, including three consecutive victories to wrap up the SAC postseason. The Pioneers will await word of a possible at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. The announcement of the selections for the 2016 NCAA Division II Baseball Championship will be made Sunday, May 15 at 10 p.m. at NCAA.com.

Tusculum's J.J. Wesley scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the seventh inning as the Pioneers led 6-5.

But in the top of the eighth inning, Catawba scored eight runs, highlighted by a three-run homer from 2015 NCAA II National Player of the Year Will Albertson. In the frame, Catawba sent 12 batters to the plate, rattled off five hits and took advantage of three Tusculum errors to surge to a 13-6 lead.

In the bottom of the eighth, the Pioneers had a runner at first base and two outs before the second band of lightning and severe weather arrived at the stadium, causing the second and final delay of the contest.

When the playing surface was deemed unplayable, the game was stopped. Since the eighth inning was not concluded, the score reverted back to the end of the last completed inning, where Tusculum held a 6-5 advantage.

With Tusculum and Catawba remaining as the only one-loss teams remaining in the double-elimination portion of the tournament, SAC Tournament co-champions were declared per league policy.

Tusculum's J.J. Wesley led the Pioneers going 3-for-4 with a double, two runs scored and a RBI.

Albertson finished 2-for-3 with a walk and a run scored, while Jake Kimble went 2-for-3 with a run scored and a RBI for the Indians.

Tusculum took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first against Catawba starter Riley Myers as Wesley singled to center and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Zack Finchum. A fly ball by Kevin Victoriano moved Wesley to third, allowing him to score on a two-out error on a ball off the bat of Nick Lacina.

The Pioneers added three runs in the bottom of the second to go on top 4-0. Jordan Huntley reached on an infield single and moved up on a wild pitch. John Topoleski drew a walk, and with one out Jeovanny Tolentino delivered an RBI double to bring home Huntley and give the Pioneers a 2-0 lead. A groundout by Wesley brought home Topoleski with another run, and a wild pitch scored Tolentino with the Pioneers' third run of the inning.

Following a scoreless third inning, the Indians got on the scoreboard against Pioneer starter Dillon Hardy with two runs, on a sacrifice fly by Malachi Hanes and an RBI double by Zach Almond. After a walk put runners at the corners with one out, Cameron Carney came in out of the Tusculum bullpen and induced a double-play grounder on the first pitch to keep the Pioneer lead at 4-2.

In the fifth, the Indians put runners at second and third with nobody out when the game was delayed by lightning for 56 minutes. Tusculum relief ace Devan Watts came on and allowed a sacrifice fly to Chance Bowden, but retired the side on a line drive to right to preserve the Tusculum lead at 4-3.

The Pioneers nearly added to their lead in the fifth as Wesley led off with a double and tried to score on a single to right by Finchum, but he was thrown out at the plate to keep the score 4-3. The Indians responded with two runs in the top of the sixth to go ahead 5-4, on an RBI single by Jake Kimble and a sacrifice fly from Dylan Richardson.

In the bottom of the sixth, Tusculum tied the game against Catawba reliever DJ Laxton as Creighton Wilke led off with a single and Huntley was hit by a pitch. After a sacrifice by John Topoleski moved the runners up, Jim Tolle grounded out to first as Wilke crossed the plate with the equalizer.

The Pioneers regained the lead in the bottom of the seventh as Wesley picked up his third hit of the day to lead off the inning. After a walk to Victoriano, Wesley took third on a fly ball and scored when Catawba reliever Heath Mitchem uncorked a wild pitch.

Watts (2-4) picked up his second win of the tournament as he went three innings, allowed two hits, two runs, two walks and a strikeout. Laxton suffered the loss for the Indians to fall to 5-2 on the year.

Tusculum captures its fourth SAC Tournament title and first since 2012. TC also won SAC Tournament championships in 2005 and 2008.

This marks the third time co-champions were declared. Carson-Newman University and Elon University shared the title in 1997 while Presbyterian College and Wingate University were declared co-champions in 1998.

- TC -