HARROGATE, Tenn. --- Tusculum's Gunner Becker remained undefeated with his fifth pitching victory of the season as the eighth-ranked Pioneers split a South Atlantic Conference baseball doubleheader with Lincoln Memorial Saturday afternoon at Lamar Hennon Field.
Becker improved to 5-0 on the season and pitched his third complete game of 2021 with TU's 10-2 win in the opener. LMU rallied from a three-run deficit scoring five straight and held on for a 5-4 win in the night-cap.
For the first time this season, the Pioneers (11-3, .786) fall out of first place in the SAC standings, dropping percentage points below first place Carson-Newman (8-2, .800). LMU improves to 9-14 overall and 8-10 in the conference.
Game 1: No. 8 Tusculum 10, Lincoln Memorial 2
Tusculum belted out 11 hits and took advantage of three Lincoln Memorial errors to win the series opener 10-2.
Luis Ezra, Trey Hinton and Chase Wullenweber each had two-hit outings for the Pioneers, while Becker pitched the seven-inning complete game as he scattered four hits, allowed two runs, one earned, walked four and struck out eight. LMU starter Evan Porter (3-2) suffered the loss as half of the 10 runs he allowed were unearned to go along with one walk and six strikeouts.
Tusculum got on the board first with Hinton's two-run single in the second inning to take a 2-0 lead. The Railsplitters got a run back in bottom of the second as LMU had runners on the corners and pulled off a double-steal to trim the TU lead to 2-1.
The Pioneers answered with three runs in the top of the third including sacrifice flies by Brandon Trammell and Luis Ezra and a RBI single from Jaden Steagall as Tusculum extended its lead to 5-1.
LMU scored an unearned run in the fourth, while the Pioneers added five runs in the seventh, highlighted by a two-run homer by Daulton Martin and a two-run double from Wullenweber.
Game 2: Lincoln Memorial 5, No. 8 Tusculum 4
LMU scored a run in the fifth inning and two runs each in the sixth and seventh frames as the Railsplitters erased a 3-0 deficit to win the second game 5-4 and upset the nationally-ranked Pioneers.
Martin recorded his second triple of the season and 15th of his career to drive in the game's first run in the opening frame. TU added two runs in the second on Kyle Williams' sacrifice fly and Hinton scored on a wild pitch.
LMU scratched a run in the fifth as Tyler Boyd hit a one-out double, moved to third on a balk and later scored on Brent Richey's squeeze bunt to trim the deficit to 3-1. In the sixth inning, Andrew Keene and DJ Alexander hit back-to-back doubles and Mast tied the game at 3-3 with his two-out single off of reliever Justin Parker.
The Railsplitters took their first lead of the series in the seventh inning as Adams drove in the go-ahead run with a one-out single and Keene followed with a sacrifice fly as LMU led 5-3.
The Pioneers got a run in the top of the ninth on Martin's one-out single to bring home Bryson Ford. Martin eventually stole second base to move the tying run into scoring position, but reliever Eli Wright got Ezra to like out to end the game.
LMU reliever Mason Turner pitched a perfect eighth inning to record his first win of the year, while Wright earned the save pitching in the ninth where he posted two strikeouts. Parker (1-1) suffered the loss for Tusculum.
Martin finished the day scoring two runs, giving him 208 for his career which are already a TU school record and the ninth-most in South Atlantic Conference history. His 15 career triples tie him for second place with TU great Carlos Rivera (2007-08), which are also tied for sixth in the SAC record book. His homer in the second game was also Martin's 22nd of his career, moving him into sole possession of ninth place in program history.
The two teams will wrap up the SAC four-game series with Sunday's doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m.
