GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Mark Deans' two-out, walk-off single drove home the winning run as No. 15 Tusculum College defeated Catawba College 4-3 in 11 innings Sunday afternoon at Pioneer Park. The Pioneers (8-6, 2-3 SAC) take two of the three games in this weekend's South Atlantic Conference series.
Tusculum junior Ricky Feliz went 4-for-6 and scored the winning run on Dean's base hit to the gap in right field.
Catawba's Zeb Link accounted for three hits, while Jerry Sands posted a pair of singles in the loss.
Tusculum drew first blood in the second inning when Pioneers plated an unearned off of Catawba starter Paul Link. Marc Hyndsman drew a two-out walk and eventually scored thanks to a pair of Catawba errors.
Catawba knotted the game at 1-1 in the fifth frame when Craig Lyerly led off with a double and later scored on Zeb Link's RBI groundout.
TC plated two runs in the seventh inning when Matt Webb reached on an error and moved to third on Aaron Hudgins' single to left. Webb would score on a Michael Axt fly ball, while Hudgins' crossed the plate thanks to a Maikol Gonazalez RBI single.
Catawba wasted little time to answer as they tied the game at 3-3 with two runs in the top of the eighth. Zeb Link and Sands led off with back-to-back singles and moved up a base on a wild pitch. Ryan Query grounded out to score Link from third base, while Sands scored later in the frame on Kevin McMillan's fielder's choice.
The score would stay tied heading into the 11th inning as Tusculum's Ben Swaggerty and Catawba's Matt Seabolt pitched well in the final three frames.
In the top of the inning, Catawba mounted a two-out rally as David Thomas and Hatley reached on back-to-back errors. With runners at first and second, Zeb Link singled to left field. But before Thomas crossed the plate, Hatley was thrown out at third base by Feliz from his outfield position to end the inning.
Feliz led off the Tusculum half of the inning with a single and moved to second on Gonzalez' bunt. After an intentional walk to Carlos Rivera and Christian Rosa struck out, Deans stepped up and laced a single the opposite way to bring home Feliz with the winning score.
Swaggerty (2-0) scattered two hits and posted a strikeout in his three innings of work to record the win. Seabolt (0-1) pitched well as he scattered six hits, allowed a run, walked two and struck out two in his 3.2 innings of relief.
In the field, Dean established a new Tusculum single-game record with his 18 put outs.
Tusculum continues its 11-game home-stand on Tuesday as TC hosts Concord University for a 3 p.m. doubleheader at Pioneer Park. Catawba will be in action next weekend, hosting Presbyterian College for a SAC series.
