GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Brandon Trammell recorded the game-tying triple in the first game and belted his team-leading 13th home run in the night-cap as the 11th-ranked Tusculum Pioneers swept a South Atlantic Conference baseball doubleheader over visiting Limestone Sunday afternoon at Pioneer Park.
Tusculum rallied with three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning and got a walk-off balk to score the winning run as the Pioneers prevailed 6-5. Murphy Flood went 2-for-3 including a two-run homer late in the game in an 11-6 TU victory as the Pioneers completed the four-game weekend sweep.
Despite finishing second in the league standings, Tusculum (29-9, 25-7 SAC) established a new conference record with 25 SAC wins this year. TU breaks the previous mark of 24 SAC wins tallied by the 2012 Pioneers as Tusculum went 24-3 that season in conference play.
Tusculum will be the No. 2 seed in this week's Pilot Flying J SAC Baseball Championship in Kodak, Tennessee. The Pioneers will face the winner of Thursday's Lenoir-Rhyne / Coker elimination game. Limestone has its season ended with a 14-22 overall record (12-19 in SAC).
Game 1: No. 11 Tusculum 6, Limestone 5
Tusculum overcame a 5-3 deficit in the bottom of the seventh as Trammell hit a two-out, two-run triple to tie the game and later scored on a bases-loaded balk to win 6-5.
Pinch-hitter Wes Reynolds drew a one-out walk from Limestone starter Cory Busse. Busse got a huge out when he fanned Martin. Ford line a single through the left side and Trammell tripled to the gap in left field to bring home Reynolds and Ford to knot the game at 5-5. Relief pitcher Cale Wagoner walked Daalen Adderley to put runners at the corners. Zake Keener was intentionally walked to load the bases and faced Fuzzy Furr. But before the second offering to Furr, Wagoner was called for a balk to bring home Trammell with the winning run.
Limestone took the early lead on Alex Cornell's lead-off home run in the second inning. Tusculum answered in the bottom of the third when Daulton Martin hit a solo blast to right field, his fifth home run in the last two days and 12th of the season.
Limestone regained the lead when Benjamin Huber led off the fourth frame with his 10th homer of the year, Adderley responded with his lead-off solo shot down the left field line to knot the score at 2-2.
The Saints used the long ball again in the fifth as Devon Cantey led off the frame with a home run and chase TU starter Keegan Ernest out of the contest. Reliever Justin Parker got a strikeout, but gave up walk and Josh Evans followed with a one-out single to bring home Kyle Raynor for the second run of the inning as the Saints led 4-2.
Tusculum got a run back in the fifth to cut the deficit in half. The Saints took advantage of a TU error to plate an insurance run to make it a 5-3 contest. Limestone looked ready to add on more in the seventh as Trace Whetsell was walked by Parker, who was relieved by Harbor Jefferson. Evans put down a bunt that rolled to a stop on the first base line to put runners at first and second with zero outs. But Jefferson got out of the jam with a strikeout of Huber and Forbes and a fly out to end the threat to set the table for the bottom of the inning heroics.
Jefferson picked up the victory to improve to 2-0 on the year, while Busse suffered the loss to fall to 4-3 on the season.
Game 2: No. 11 Tusculum 11, Limestone 6
Trey Hinton went 2-for-3 including his first career triple and scored the go-ahead run in Tusculum's 11-6 win over the Saints.
Tusculum jumped out to a 4-0 lead only to see Limestone battle back and take a 6-5 lead in the middle innings. Trammell tied the game with his lead-off homer in the fifth and Hinton led off with a triple to the gap in the sixth and later scored on a passed ball to take the lead for good at 7-6.
Tusculum added two runs in the seventh inning and two more in the eighth frame while closer Mitch McCain tossed three shutout innings to record his SAC-leading eighth save of the year and 15th of his career (4th in TU history). His eight saves are also tied for the second most in program history and needs one more to match the school-record nine logged by John-Austin Shepard in 2013.
Tusculum totaled 10 hits in the contest including two hits each by Trammell, Adderley, Flood and Hinton. TU also continued its string of hitting a home run in six straight games and in 10 of its last 11 outings.
Tusculum scored four times in the first inning as Martin led off with a single, Martin walked and Trammell landed a single just inside the left field line to drive in the game's first run. Adderley followed with a base hit and a 2-0 TU lead. With two outs, Luis Ezra drew a walk to load the bases. Hinton laced a base hit to left field to drive in Trammell and Adderley, but Ezra was thrown out at third base to end the inning.
TU starter Tyler Harmon held the Saints at bay retiring the first four batters he would face. He would surrender a run in the third inning but Tusculum answered by scoring an unearned run on Flood's RBI hit.
In the fourth inning, the Saints used two walks and a base hit to load the bases. Harmon got a strikeout for the second out of the inning, but Whetsell drew a bases loaded walk and Evans followed with a two-run single as the Saints drew within a run (4-3).
In the top of the fifth inning, Cornell reached on a single and scored on Forbes eighth double of the year. A base hit but runners on the corners with zero outs. Cantey grounded into a double play but Forbes scored the go-ahead run at 6-5.
Reliever Alec Lay (2-0) picked up his second win of the season as he pitched two shutout innings, while allowing a base hit and recorded two strikeouts. McCain scattered two hits, walked two and struck out four as the Pioneers won every weekend series this season, but one as TU split with Newberry.
Tusculum has been hit by a pitch 83 times this spring, which is a new school record surpassing the previous mark of 81 in 2019. Martin was plunked twice on Sunday giving him 16 for the season and a whopping 53 times in his career.
