GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Murphy Flood capped an improbable Tusculum comeback with his walk-off three-run homer as the Pioneers rallied from a four-run deficit to claim a 9-7 South Atlantic Conference victory over UVA Wise Sunday afternoon at Pioneer Park.
Tusculum (22-19, 16-11 SAC) trailed 7-3 in the ninth inning and were down to its final out before the Pioneers put together a rally for the ages. TU would score six times in the final frame thanks to a walk and four straight hits culminated by Flood's three-run blast over the left field wall.
With the victory, the Pioneers win the weekend series over the Highland Cavaliers (13-30, 8-16 SAC). TU wins its fifth series in the last six weekends and seventh SAC series overall.
But what led up to the ninth inning heroics was what made the TU comeback so remarkable. Three of the Pioneers' top hitters, including Zane Keener, Ben Scartz and Zach Wilson all went down due to injuries throughout the afternoon.
The Cavaliers jumped out to a 4-0 lead, scoring twice in the first and tallied runs in the third and fourth innings.
UVA Wise posted five hits in the first and also benefited from two TU errors to take a 2-0 lead. Jake Weaver would make it 3-0 with his solo home run in the third and Nick Badgett came through with a RBI double in the fourth.
Meanwhile, Cavs' starting pitcher Garrett Stiltner was tossing a brilliant game as he gave up a lead-off single to Keener, but would record 11 consecutive outs including an inning-ending double play in the first.
Tusculum would break through in the fourth, as Scartz doubled and later scored on Flood's two-out single to trim the deficit to 4-1.
UVA Wise got the run back in the top of the fifth thanks to a pair of hit batters and a Matt Frye two-out single as the Cavaliers led 5-1.
Stiltner retired the Pioneers in order in the fifth and had two outs and a runner at first in the sixth. Scartz posted his second consecutive extra base hit and drove in Wilson easily from first base. But while rounding second, Scartz pulled up hobbling and was unable to make it to third and was tagged out to end the inning as he left the game with TU trailing 5-2.
Stiltner recorded the first two outs of the seventh before senior Will Samuelson homered to right field to reduce the Wise lead to 5-3. Nash Bingham took over and gave up a walk to senior Jayden Singleton and a base hit to pinch-hitter Jake Absher. The Cavs' Hunter Anderson took over on the mound and walked senior Luis Reyes to load the bases. Senior Max Schmarder would be called upon to pinch-hit but Anderson would strike him out looking to end the inning and preserve the two-run lead.
The Pioneers threatened again in the eighth as Kayl Ratliff, who took over in the batting order for the injured Scartz, came up with a single up the middle and Flood followed with a base hit of his own to put the tying runs aboard. But reliever David Kelliher, who took over at the top of the eighth, got Connor Jurek to ground into an inning ending double play.
In the top of the ninth, Badgett hit a fly ball to right field which got under the glove of the diving Singleton, allowing him to coast into third base with a triple. Cole Harness lifted a fly ball down the left field which landed in fair territory as Wilson and Jurek collided. Badgett scored and Harness would scamper into third base with the second triple to start the ninth. A sacrifice fly by Justin Reed would bring in Harness as the Cavs led 7-3. DJ Dickson followed with a double down the right field line and later moved to third on a wild pitch. But he would be stranded there as senior reliever Seth Willis recorded his third strikeout of the game and got a solid defensive play by Schmarder at third to record the final out of the inning.
During the top of the ninth, Wilson was still ailing from the collision and would eventually be replaced in the line-up by senior infielder Darien Farley.
Spencer Powell took over the mound for the Cavs and with one out, Singleton lined a single through the right side of the infield. Powell would fan catcher Avery Collins for the second out and would face Reyes, who worked a 10-pitch walk to extend the inning.
Schmarder would fall behind 0-2 in the count before lining a RBI single to left field to drive in Singleton and Reyes would move to third as the lead was cut to 7-4. With runners on the corners, Farley would come to the plate for the first time in the afternoon and singled to left to score Reyes as the Pioneers trailed 7-5. Ratliff got behind in the count 0-2, but singled up the middle as Schmarder scored to make it a one-run game.
The Cavaliers went to the pen and brought in reliever Ryan Whitson to face Flood. Whitson pitched two shutout innings for the win in the Cavs' 5-2 win over the Pioneers, which ended Flood's career-long 18-game hitting streak. Whitson got ahead in the count as Flood fouled off his first two pitches. But on the fourth pitch of the at-bat, Flood lifted a fly ball to deep left field and over the wall for the game-winner and his third career walk-off hit in the last two years.
Flood recorded walk-off singles in both ends of a home doubleheader sweep against Coker University in 2023.
On Sunday,each team finished with 14 hits apiece. Badgett and Harness each had identical stat lines as each went 3-for-5 with two runs scored and a RBI. Dickson and Weaver accounted for two hits apiece.
Scartz and Ratliff had two hits each, while Keener's single extended his hitting streak to seven in a row. Wilson went 0-for-4 on the afternoon to snap his 13-game hitting streak. Scartz's two hits extended his on-base streak to 20 games, Keener has reached base safely now in 19 straight and Reyes' single and two walks made it 16 in a row for the TU centerfielder.
Willis picked up the victory to improve to 4-2 on the season, while Powell (0-4) suffered the loss. TU relief pitcher Jonathan Nelson kept the Pioneers in the game as he tossed 3 2/3 strong innings where he scattered two hits, allowed one run, walked none and struck out four.
Tusculum will play two mid-week regional games this week and will be looking to avenge a pair of early season losses. TU will be at Emory & Henry College on Tuesday for a non-conference match-up before returning home on Wednesday to host nationally-ranked Young Harris College.
The Pioneers with a pair of road weekend series to close out the regular-season. TU will be at Shorter University (Apr. 19-20) for a three-game set, before the SAC series finale at Limestone University (Apr. 26-27) in two weeks.
