GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Bryson Ford with 3-for-5 with four RBI with a double and a home run, while Brandon Trammell collected four hits including a homer as the Tusculum baseball team rallied to a 9-5 victory over Embry-Riddle Wednesday afternoon at Pioneer Park.
Dawson Gause picked up the win as he pitched 4.1 shutout innings in relief as the Pioneers overcame deficits of 1-0, 2-1 and 4-3 before scoring four runs in the fifth and two more times in the sixth.
Tusculum second baseman Daulton Martin became the Pioneers' all-time leader in runs scored as he finished the game scoring three times moving him up to 183 for his career.
Prior to the TU win on Wednesday, the two teams completed Tuesday's halted game where the Eagles added three runs each in the eighth and ninth innings in a 12-1 victory in the mid-week series opener. The game was halted on Tuesday night due to heavy rains with ERAU leading 6-0 in the middle of the seventh inning.
Embry-Riddle 12, Tusculum 1 (Completion of 3/10 halted game)
Embry-Riddle finished the game with 21 hits including three-hit performances by John Devine, Eric Feliz and Robert Post as the Eagles ran off to a 12-1 win over the Pioneers.
Twelve different players finished with a hit for ERAU, while four pitchers limited Tusculum to one run and six hits.
J.C. Carrell, who pitched five shutout innings on Tuesday, picked up the victory to remain undefeated on the season at 3-0.
Tusculum got its run on Wednesday in the eighth inning as Martin was hit by a pitch and later scored on Trammell's sixth double of the year. Martin's run tied the all-time record held by TU Sports Hall of Famer Josh Wolff who scored 180 runs from 2003-2006.
Tusculum 9, Embry-Riddle 5
Tusculum's top-third of the batting order including Martin, Ford and Trammell accounted for nine of the team's 12 hits and scored all but one of its runs in TU's 9-5 win over the Eagles and split the mid-week series.
Embry-Riddle got on the board first with a run in the opening frame, but TU answered in the bottom of the inning on Trammell's two-out solo blast to right centerfield to tie the game at 1-1.
The Eagles answered with a run in the second inning off of TU starter Justin Parker, who was making his Pioneer debut. Devine led off with a double and scored on a Post RBI single to take a 2-1 lead.
Tusculum plated two runs in the bottom of the third inning to take a 3-2 lead. Martin legged out an infield single and scored from first base on Ford's sixth double of the season. For Martin, it was his 181st run scored, breaking Wolff's mark which stood for 14 years. Trammell followed with an infield single to put runners on the corners and Fuzzy Furr grounded a base hit up the middle to drive in the go-ahead run.
The Eagles responded with two runs in the fourth inning as Andrew Martinez led off with an infield hit and stole second base. Parker got a strikeout and a ground out, but gave up three straight hits including RBI singles by Post and Cody Forster as ERAU led 4-3. Gause took over and got the final out of the inning to keep it a one-run game.
Embry-Riddle reliever John Barrone retired the Pioneers in order in the fourth inning sending the game to the fifth. The Eagles bot a pair of walks, but Gause got out of trouble with a strikeout and a foul out.
In the bottom of the fifth, the first five Pioneers got aboard. Jake Wapinsky led off with a single and Martin was hit by a pitch to put two runners aboard. Joe Balsam took over for Barone and was greeted by a RBI single from Ford to tie the game at 4-4. Trammell broke the deadlock with his RBI single to drive in Martin. There was an outfield throwing error on the play which allowed Ford to score the third run of the inning. TU would take on an unearned run later in the inning as the Pioneers led 7-4.
Tusculum added a pair of scoring tallies in the sixth on Ford's two-run blast to left field for his third round-tripper of the year.
Meanwhile, Gause worked around a one-out double in the seventh and retired the side in the eighth.
Tusculum returns to action this weekend when the Pioneers host Wingate University for a three-game South Atlantic Conference series at Pioneer Park. The series is slated to begin on Friday with a 6 p.m. single game followed by a 1 p.m. doubleheader on Saturday.
