GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Jeremiah Tullidge's 12th inning walk-off single in the opener highlighted Tusculum College's doubleheader sweep over Anderson University Saturday afternoon at Pioneer Park in South Atlantic Conference baseball action.
The Pioneers won the first game 8-7 in 12 innings and completed the weekend series sweep with a 9-2 victory in the night-cap as TC led wire-to-wire.
Tusculum (19-10, 13-5 SAC) remains in sole possession of second place in the league standings and improves its home record to 16-2 this season. Anderson falls to 15-17 overall (9-12 SAC).
With Saturday's victories, Tusculum head coach Doug Jones is two shy of his 600th career win. He will be going for that mark when the Pioneers host in-state foe Lincoln Memorial University this Monday afternoon for a 4 p.m. SAC doubleheader.
Game 1: Tusculum 8, Anderson 7 (12 innings) - (Box Score)
Tullidge drove in the game-winner with his base hit in the 12th inning to pace the Pioneers to a thrilling 8-7 victory in the opener.
Tusculum reliever Michael Scott (3-1) pitched three shutout innings to pick up the victory but had to fend off several late inning challenges by the Trojans down the stretch.
With the score tied at 7-7 in the bottom of the 12th, Jevoanny Tolentino led off with a single and later stole second base. Andrew Bowerman was intentionally walked to bring Tullidge to the plate as he lined a single through the right side of the infield as Tolentino scampered home with the winning run.
Scott scattered four hits with a walk and a strikeout in the 14 batters he faced over his three innings of work. AU reliever Evan Jordan (2-1) suffered the loss.
The Trojans finished with 18 hits, including Steven Cooper's 5-for-6 performance which included his fifth home run of the season. AU's Stephen McKnight, Nick Bernardo and Xavier Peralta all finished with three hits apiece.
Tusculum managed 10 hits, including two-hit outings from Bowerman, Tullidge, Tolentino and Jim Tolle.
Game 2: Tusculum 9, Anderson 2 (Box Score)
The Pioneers jumped out to a five-run lead and got solid pitching performances from McKenly Berry and Cameron Carney in Tusculum's 9-2 win over Anderson in Saturday's second game.
Jalen Shuffler went 2-for-3, including his team-leading fifth home run of the year. Tolle also went 2-for-3 to extend his hitting streak to 18 straight games. Kevin Victoriano and Scott Gibson also tallied two hits each.
Berry tossed 4 1/3 innings and allowed six hits, two unearned runs, no walks and two strikeouts to improve his record to 3-4 on the season. Cameron Carney pitched 2 2/3 hitless innings as he walked none and struck out five to post his first save of the year.
Victoriano drove in the first run of the game with his two-out single in the opening inning. TC plated two runs in the second thanks to a two-out double off the left field wall by Bowerman. In the third, TC added two more runs in the third and Shuffler followed with another in the fifth as his lead-off homer was smashed off the right field foul pole.
Tusculum completed the win with three runs in the sixth with RBI hits from Victoriano, Gibson and John Topoleski.
- TC -
