YOUNG HARRIS, Ga. --- The Young Harris baseball team recorded their ninth consecutive win as the 20th-ranked Mountain Lions edged visiting Tusculum 5-4 Tuesday afternoon in a non-conference game at Zell Miller Field.
Young Harris (17-5) completes the season-sweep over Tusculum (10-12) as the Mountain Lions out-hit the Pioneers 13-11 led by Ethan Underwood's 3-for-4 performance while scoring two runs including the eventual game-winner in the seventh.
YHC's Marco Colina, Jackson Jones and Rome Wallace each finished with two hits, while Aaron Copeland belted a solo home run in the sixth inning to break a 3-3 tie.
Tusculum was led at the plate by Will Samuelson's 3-for-5 performance which included a pair of doubles. Zane Keener and Ryan Dos Santos added two hits apiece in the loss.
The Pioneers came out swinging to start the game as Zach Wilson led off with a single and Samuelson followed with a double. But Wilson tried to score from first on the play and was thrown out at home.
The Mountain Lions plated two runs in the bottom of the first as the first three batters got aboard with a pair of hits and a walk. Colina flied out into a double play which drove in Mark Castle from third for a 1-0 score. Jones would come up with a two-out single to bring in the second run of the frame and a 2-0 YHC lead.
Tusculum answered with a run in the top of the third as Dylan Symonds scored on a Wes Reynolds' fielder's choice to cut the deficit in half at 2-1. TU would load the bases in the fourth inning with one out. But Brown escaped the jam with an inning-ending double play.
Young Harris tacked on a run in the fourth as Wallace led off with a double and scored on Steven Spell's one-out single to extend the lead to 3-1.
The Pioneers got the run back in the fifth as Samuelson hit a two-out double and scored on a Reynolds' single to trim the deficit to 3-2. TU tied the game at 3-3 in the sixth as Keener greeted reliever Dylan Beck with a lead-off double in the sixth. Keener moved to third on a passed ball and would later score on the second passed ball of the frame to even the score.
Copeland led off the sixth with his solo blast to left field as the Mountain Lions regained the lead at 4-3. YHC added a badly needed insurance run in the seventh thanks to Jones' RBI double.
In the top of the ninth, Connor Jurek led off with an infield single and Luis Ezra followed with a base hit to put the tying runs aboard. YHC closer McLain Harris, who took over in the previous inning, got a pop up on a bunt attempt for the first out of the inning. Samuelson legged out an infield single to bring home Jurek from second and moved pinch-runner Rudy Fernandez to third base with one out. Harris got a huge out when he struck out Reynolds looking and followed with a grounder to end the game.
Beck improved to 3-0 on the year with the victory as he went two innings, allowed one run on two hits with zero walks and a strikeout. Harris pitched the final two innings to record his third save of the season.
Tusculum used six pitchers with Brice Anders (0-2) suffering the loss in his 2.1 innings of work.
The Pioneers, who boast the No. 5 toughest schedule in NCAA Division II, will travel to 16th-ranked Newberry this weekend for a three-game South Atlantic Conference series beginning with Friday's 6 p.m. opener.
