GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum University baseball team begins a season-long eight-game road trip starting with four contests this week against nationally-ranked opposition.
The Pioneers (10-11, 2-7 South Atlantic Conference) will travel to 20th-ranked Young Harris on Tuesday (2 p.m. – NEW TIME) for a rematch with the Mountain Lions, before venturing to the Palmetto State for a three-game SAC series with No. 16 Newberry.
Entering this week's action, Tusculum has the fifth toughest schedule in all of NCAA Division II Baseball and the most difficult in the South Atlantic Conference. TU has faced a grueling schedule which has included 12 games against teams who were or are currently ranked in NCAA Division II. TU has posted six wins over ranked opposition this year including a 6-2 victory Friday over then No. 20 Lenoir-Rhyne, ending the Bears' 19-game winning streak.
Tusculum opponents who are currently listed in the latest Collegiate Baseball News Coaches' Poll are: No. 2 Wingate, No. 15 Lenoir-Rhyne, No. 16 Newberry, No. 17 Illinois Springfield, No. 20 Young Harris and No. 22 Lynn. Molloy, who was ranked No. 29 nationally and lost three straight to TU to open its season, have won 10 of their last 11 games to move to 10-4 on the year.
SCOUTING THE PIONEERS
After starting the season 7-3 including a four-game winning streak over ranked opposition, Tusculum dropped eight of its last 11 games including a 2-1 series loss to Lenoir-Rhyne last weekend.
Leading the Pioneers offensively is senior outfielder Wes Reynolds who is batting a team-best .375 (12th in SAC) while totaling 24 hits including four doubles, four home runs and 13 RBI. He batted .500 in the L-R series. Reynolds is batting a robust 17-of-34 in his last 11 contests, while also boasting a .882 slugging percentage during that stretch of games.
Will Samelson is second on the roster batting .300 with a pair of doubles, two home runs and seven RBI. Preseason All-SAC outfielder Zane Keener is hitting .292 and leads the team with 18 RBI.
Tusculum has homered 17 times this season with three players sharing the team lead with four homers each including Reynolds, Keener and Luis Ezra.
The Pioneers are ranked 23rd nationally in hit batters (35 – 3rd in SAC) and 29th in sacrifice bunts (11 – 4th in SAC). Senior outfielder Kyle Williams leads the team with his four bunts, which are 15th-best in the nation.
On the mound, the Tusculum staff has a 5.06 team earned run average (8th in SAC), but are coming off a weekend where TU limited the SAC's top hitting team in Lenoir-Rhyne to a .229 batting average. The Bears game to Greeneville averaging over a dozen hits per game, but only mustered just under 8.0 hits per contest.
Drew Sliwinski has posted a pair of solid relief outings last weekend against the Bears where he went six innings and posted a 1.50 ERA with six strikeouts. He lowered his seasonal ERA to a team-best 2.91 and is 1-1 on the season in his eight appearances.
Harbor Jefferson is 3-3 on the season with a 5.60 ERA. He opened the season winning his first three starts but has gone 0-3 in his next three appearances. He has posted 22 strikeouts against just three walks in his 27.1 innings giving him the top strikeout-to-walk ratio in the conference (7.33 – 41st in NCAA II).
Gunner Becker has made six starts as well with a 1-3 record and a 4.85 ERA. He leads the team with 26 strikeouts in his 26 innings on the bump.
Senior Sam Loew has been victorious in his last two appearances, both in weekend starts. He combined on a 3-0 shutout two weekends ago against Lincoln Memorial and followed with Friday's solid five-inning effort in a win against No. 20 Lenoir-Rhyne. Loew is 2-0 with a 3.29 ERA.
TU reliever Justin Parker has also provided solid innings out of the bullpen where he is 1-1 in his eight appearances including a save and a 3.10 ERA.
SCOUTING YOUNG HARRIS
The Young Harris Mountain Lions (16-5) are one of the hottest teams in the country and are riding an eight-game winning streak including last weekend's three-game Peach Belt Conference sweep at Augusta.
Including a 10-1 victory at Tusculum on Feb. 22, the Mountain Lions have won 10 of their last 11 outings and are currently atop the Peach Belt standings (6-0).
Young Harris is batting .297 as a team (3rd in PBC) and fifth in team ERA (4.25).
Ethan Underwood leads the Mountain Lions with his .413 batting average and is tops on the team with 33 hits, including five doubles, three home runs and 21 RBI. He went 3-for-4 with three RBI in last month's meeting with the Pioneers.
In that game, the pitching trio of Cole Edwards, McLain Harris and Travis Burnette held TU to one run on four hits, two walks and recorded nine strikeouts.
SCOUTING NEWBERRY
Like Young Harris, the Newberry Wolves also enter this week's action riding an eight-game winning streak. Newberry (22-3, 6-0 SAC) is the lone undefeated conference team remaining following last weekend's sweep over UVA Wise.
The Wolves are a perfect 16-0 at home this season and have won 17 straight at the Smith Road Complex which is the second-longest active winning streak in Division II.
Newberry is batting a SAC-best .330 this season (23rd in NCAA II) led by junior shortstop Braylin Marine. Marine is hitting .430 (5th in SAC) on the year where he leads the conference with 43 hits (2nd in NCAA II) including a SAC-best five triples (3rd in NCAA II) and 40 RBI (2nd in NCAA II). He has also been a terror on the bases where he has accounted for a league-high 25 stolen bases (3rd in NCAA II) in 28 attempts.
Teammate Zane Tarrance is second in the SAC with his 20 stolen bases (5th in NCAA II), while Jacob LeBron is third with 15 thefts (12th in NCAA II). The Wolves lead the country as a team with 111 stolen bases, averaging out to 4.44 per contest (2nd in NCAA II).
LeBron is second on the team, hitting .383 with 21 RBI, while Henry Gibson is fourth with his .383 average and 19 RBI. Also batting over .300 for the Wolves are Jonathan Velez (.370), Ben Freeman (.370), Ian Clements (.316) and Tarrance (.301).
The Newberry pitching staff has also been impressive, boasting a 3.80 team ERA (3rd in SAC), which is backed up by the league's top defensive unit (.973).
Junior left-hander Joe LaFiora is slated to open Friday's series opener with Tusculum. He is 4-1 with a 2.61 ERA in his 31 innings on the mound where he has 37 strikeouts against just eight walks.
Ethan LeBron (4-0, 4.88 ERA, 27 strikeouts) and Rylan Brown (3-0, 3.68 ERA) are also slated to start this weekend for the Scarlet and Gray.
SERIES HISTORY
Young Harris: Tuesday will be the 14th meeting between the Pioneers and Mountain Lions in a series that began in 2012. Tusculum leads the all-time series 11-3.
Newberry: Tusculum leads the all-time series with Newberry 53-20 dating back to TU's first year in the SAC in 2000. The two teams split the regular-season series last year in Greeneville. The Wolves eliminated the Pioneers on the third day of the 2021 SAC Tournament. Due to SAC scheduling and COVID, this will be TU's first trip to Newberry since 2016.
FOLLOW THE GAMES
Young Harris and Newberry are scheduled to provide video and live statistics for all games this week. Video and Live Stat links are available at www.TusculumPioneers.com.
TICKETS
Fans traveling to the games at Young Harris and Newberry this week may purchase tickets either in advance or at the gate via HomeTown Ticketing. Ticket links are available on the Tusculum Baseball Schedule page.