FOREST CITY, N.C. --- Jeremiah Tullidge went 4-for-5 with six RBI to lead Tusculum College to an 11-7 win over Newberry College at the 2015 South Atlantic Conference Baseball Tournament Saturday night. The double-elimination tournament is being held at McNair Field.
With the victory, the third-seeded Pioneers (29-16) advance to Sunday's winner's bracket final against top-seeded and 12th-ranked Catawba College at 3:45 p.m. Newberry, the No. 2-seed in the tournament and the sixth-ranked team in the NCAA Division II Southeast Region, have its 14-game winning streak snapped and will face No. 5 seed Wingate University in an elimination game on Sunday at noon.
Tullidge finished the game with a pair of doubles and his first home run of the season to pace TC's 11-run, 12-hit attack. Andrew Bowerman went 2-for-3 with three runs scored and a RBI, while Chris Waylock accounted for a pair of hits and two RBI.
Tusculum starter Ethan Carpenter went 6 1/3 innings, allowed eight hits, six runs, five earned, walked three and struck out four. Carpenter (4-2) records his second victory of the Wolves this season (34-17). TC reliever Devan Watts pitched the final 2 2/3 innings where he scattered two hits, with an unearned run
The Wolves finished the game with 10 hits, including JoJo Bradley's 3-for-4 performance with three runs scored and two RBI. Albert Baur recored his 23rd and 24th doubles of the season, while Robert Kosch went 2-for-4 with three RBI to his credit.
Tusculum score in the first inning as Bowerman led off the game with a walk, moved to second on a bunt and scored on Creighton Wilke's two-out single to right field and 1-0 TC lead.
Newberry tied the game with a run in the bottom of the second, but the Pioneers regained the lead on Tullidge's one-out single to drive in Topoleski from third base.
The Wolves took their first lead of the game in the bottom of the fourth on Kosch's two-out, two-run single to put Newberry ahead, 3-2.
Tusculum answered with a five-run, fifth inning as eight Pioneers went to the plate. The big hits of the inning came on a two-run double from Tullidge and a two-run single by Waylock as TC led 7-3.
Tusculum added a run in the sixth on Bowerman's two-out RBI double to drive in Travis Winnon to make the score 8-3. After Newberry plated a run in the bottom of the sixth, Tullidge led off the seventh frame with a solo blast over the right field wall and a 9-4 Tusculum lead.
The Wolves wouldn't go away as Newberry scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh, including a two-run single from Bradley and a sacrifice fly from D.J. Martinez to trim the TC lead to 9-7.
The Pioneers added two insurance runs in the eighth inning on Tullidge's two-out double to push the TC advantage back out to four (11-7).
Watts, who relieved Carpenter worked around a double and a hit-batter in the eighth inning and retired the side in order in the ninth to seal the Tusculum victory.
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