GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum College baseball team rallied from a seven-run deficit as Jalen Shuffler drove in the winning run with his walk-off single in the 13th inning to lead the Pioneers to a South Atlantic Conference split with Catawba College Saturday afternoon at Pioneer Park.
Tusculum pounded out 18 hits to win extra-inning thriller 9-8 in the opener, while Catawba pitching ace Shaefer Shepard tossed a two-hit shutout in a 3-0 victory in the night-cap.
The Catawba Indians (26-16, 19-7 SAC) win the weekend series 2-1 as Tusculum moves its record to 26- 16 overall, 14-12 in SAC play.
Game 1: Tusculum 9, Catawba 8 (13 innings) (Box Score)
Trailing 7-0 after six innings, the Pioneers scored five times in the seventh and twice in the ninth to send the contest into extra frames tied 7-7.
Catawba scored the go-ahead run in the top of the 13th inning as Craig Brooks led off with a single and moved up a base following a Malichi Hanses hit. On the play, Brooks took a wide turn around second base, but was thrown out going back to the bag on a throw from centerfielder Andrew Bowerman.
Clark Ayers relieved Billy Sivyer and struck out Cameron Beard for the second out of the inning. Blake Houston followed with his second hit with his single as Hanes scored the go-ahead tally and 8-7 lead.
Catawba pitcher Sean Grant, who came aboard in the 10th inning, was cruising along as he retired the first eight batters in a row. But in the 13th, he surrendered a base hit to Nick Rodriguez. He moved to second on a bunt. Grant got the second out of the inning on a fly out. Bowerman drew a walk to put the tying and winning runs on base.
Pinch-hitter Scott Gibson hit a dribbler that hugged the first base line. Catawba first baseman Paul Kronenfeld picked up the ball to tag out Gibson but the ball bounced out of his glove to load the bases. Jeremiah Tullidge drew a bases-loaded walk to tie the game and Jalen Shuffler hits an 0-2 pitch to centerfield to drive in Bowerman with the game-winning run.
Ayers picked up the victory to improve to 3-1 on the season, while Grant (0-6) remained winless for the year.
Foster finished the game going 4-for-5 with a RBI, while Heath Comerford posted three hit. Tullidge got on base four times thanks to a pair of singles and two walks. Shuffler was a perfect 2-for-2, while Waylock posted a pair of hits.
Defensively, Waylock tied a Tusculum single-game record with his nine fielding assists, tying Tim Brown's mark against Mars Hill in 2006.
Catawba finished with 14 hits in the game led by three-hit performances from Brooks and Kronenfeld.
Game 2: Catawba 3, Tusculum 0 (Box Score)
Shaefer Shepard recorded 10 strikeouts as he pitched a two-hit shutout in a 3-0 win over Tusculum in Saturday's second game.
Shepard (6-1) gave up a pair of singles through the first two innings. After that, the Pioneers could muster only two base-runners for the remainder of the game as he retired the final 10 batters to post his second complete game of the year and first shutout.
Kronenfeld went 2-for-3 as he drove in two of Catawba's three runs in the contest. Houston went 2-for-4 while scoring twice for the Tribe.
Tusculum starter John-Austin Shepard suffered the loss to fall to 4-5 on the year.
Tusculum returns to action on Wednesday as the Pioneers travel to Bristol, Tenn. to take on King University for a 3 p.m. contest.
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