ANDERSON, S.C. --- The Anderson University scored nine unanswered runs to rally to a 12-9 South Atlantic Conference victory over Tusculum Friday at Memorial Stadium in the league opener for both teams.
AU's JC LeGrand belted two homers including his three-run blast in the seventh inning as the Trojans (6-2, 1-0 SAC) overcame a six-run deficit.
Anderson trailed 9-3 heading to the bottom of the sixth inning, but the Trojans plated three runs in the frame, followed by four runs in the seventh and two insurance tallies in the eighth.
AU reliever Matt Dooley (1-0) pitched two shutout innings to pick up the win, while Nick Miller struck out the side in the ninth to record his first save of 2024.
The Pioneers and Trojans accounted for 15 hits apiece, including four extra-base knocks for each club.
Zach Stover went 3-for-3 for Anderson while LeGrand, Kye Andress, Gray Wells and Carson Molinari finishes with two hits apiece.
Tusculum's Murphy Flood went 3-for-5 including his first home run of the season. Zane Keener and Ben Scartz also had three-hit outings, while Max Schmarder had a two-hit day.
The Pioneers jumped out to a 5-0 lead scoring three times in the third and twice in the fourth. In the third inning, Keener led off with a triple, Zach Wilson was hit by a pitch and both would score on Scartz's two-run triple. Freshman Jake Absher followed with his third double of the season to drive in the third score of the frame.
In the top of the fourth, Schmarder led off with a single, moved to second on a wild pitch and scored on Avery Collins RBI single. Collins moved to third base on a Keener single. Collins would touch the plate on a wild pitch to score TU's fifth run of the contest.
The Trojans broke through in the fourth with a two-out rally. Luke Poole reached on a two-out double and scored on Molinaroli's infield single.
Tusculum answered in the fifth with Murphy's lead-off home to left field as TU led 6-1. LeGrand responded in the bottom of the fifth when he led off with his first home of the day. Andress got aboard with single later in the inning and would score on a wild pitch as the Tusculum lead was trimmed to 6-3.
The Pioneers erupted for a three-run inning in the top of the sixth thanks to a RBI single from Flood and a run-scoring fielder's choice by Absher.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Trojans sent eight batters to plate as AU scored three times thanks to a RBI single by Anthony Pandolfi and a two-run hit off the bat of Andress to trim the deficit to 9-6.
The Trojans scored four times in the seventh as Molinari had a RBI single, while LeGrand hit a three-run home to right field to drive in the tying and go-ahead runs as AU led 10-9.
Eight batters went to the plate again in the bottom of the eighth for Anderson as the Trojans got sacrifice flies from Poole and Molinaroli to extend the lead to 12-9.
Tusculum reliever Jonathan Nelson (0-1) suffered the loss for the Pioneers.
The series will conclude on Saturday with a 1 p.m. doubleheader.
