GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum University baseball team is slated to play five games this week, including the Pioneers' South Atlantic Conference lid-lifting series with UVA Wise this weekend at Pioneer Park.
Tusculum (2-1, 0-0 SAC) will travel to Young Harris College first on Tuesday for a mid-week contest against their Southeast Regional foe. This game was originally slated to be the season-opener last week, but inclement weather moved the game to Tuesday.
All SAC series this season will be four-game sets with a pair of doubleheaders, which must be played in consecutive days. The first game of each twin-bill will be a seven-inning contest followed by a nine-inning game. TU's series with UVA Wise is scheduled to begin on Saturday at 2 p.m., followed by Sunday's 1 p.m. doubleheader.
LAST WEEK
Tusculum won last weekend's three-game series with the University of Indianapolis, two games to one as the Pioneers scored 30 runs on the weekend. TU only batted .255, but boasted an impress .433 team on-base percentage which included 24 walks and seven hit batters.
Senior catcher Chase Wullenweber led the way with his .571 batting average, going 4-for-7 at the plate in his two outings including seven RBI, a double and a home run. His 1.143 slugging percentage is one of the best in the league. He also threw out a pair of base runners and didn't commit an error in his 29 total fielding chances.
Graduate student Bryson Ford batted .455 on the weekend as he scored seven runs including five in the series finale against UIndy, which tied a TU single-game record. Ford added a double and a triple, along with a stolen base.
Senior outfielder Brandon Trammell is third on the roster with his .400 average as he went 4-for-10 on the weekend with six RBI and a home run.
All-American second baseman Daulton Martin batted .364 with a pair of doubles, four runs and four RBI. He tallied a stolen base, while drawing a pair of walks and was hit by a pitch on two occasions. Martin's four hits on the weekend gives him 246 for his career and has him 16 away from the school record of 262 held by Josh Wolff (2003-2006). Martin already holds the school records for runs scored (187), doubles (62), total bases (388), bases on balls (128), and hit by pitch (39). He is 10th in career batting (.377) and is second in RBI (149) and career on-base percentage (.500).
Senior Gunner Becker has once again emerged as TU's top-starter and he pitched seven strong innings in Saturday's 12-5 win over UIndy. Becker pitched seven shutout innings where he scattered five hits, walked three a struck out eight. Mitch McCain pitched in long relief in the series finale as TU overcame a 6-0 deficit and won 16-7. McCain had a career-best 10 strikeouts in his 5.2 innings of work.
SCOUTING YOUNG HARRIS
The Young Harris Mountain Lions also enter Tuesday's game with a 2-1 record after winning last weekend's Peach Belt Conference series over Georgia Southwestern. YHC won Saturday's doubleheader by scores of 10-4 and 6-5, before dropping Sunday's series finale, 11-6.
The Mountain Lions are led by head coach Stephen Waggener who is entering his fourth season. In 2019, he led YHC to a 36-21 record which tied for the most wins in program history during the NCAA era. They captured the PBC Tournament title and advance to the NCAA II Tournament for the first time in school history.
Tucker Greer is leading the way for the Mountain Lions with his .615 batting average going 8-for-13 last weekend with a double, a triple and three home runs. Bailey Campbell is hitting .400, while Noah Fitzgerald is batting .357 for the top three averages on the roster.
Pitchers out of the YHC bullpen accounted for both wins at Georgia Southwestern with McLain Harris and Chase Webb coming through with the wins.
Please note: Young Harris is not allowing visiting fans to its home baseball games.
SCOUTING UVA WISE
UVA Wise is entering its second season as a member of the South Atlantic Conference and will travel to Tusculum for its first league series of 2021.
Veteran head coach Hank Banner returns 15 lettermen from last year's team that posted an 11-10 record during the COVID shortened season including a SAC series win at Tusculum winning on a pair of walk-offs to take two of three games from the Pioneers.
The Cavaliers have played in just one game after having its four-game road series at Southern Wesleyan cancelled two weekends ago. UVA Wise dropped a 10-2 non-conference decision at Lincoln Memorial last Wednesday.
The Cavs were held to five hits in the loss at LMU with a double each coming from Tyler Horvath and and Tyler Campbell. Gavin Birkhimer also contributed a triple. Preseason All-SAC selections Tyler Blaum and Gabe Wurtz are slated to lead UVA Wise.
In last year's series with Tusculum, the Cavs drew a walk-off hit by pitch to bring home the winning run in a 15-14 victory over the Pioneers in the series opener. In the second game, Wurtz belted a two-run walk-off homer in a 4-2 UVA Wise win. Tusculum salvaged a 17-7 win in the series finale.
FOLLOW THE GAMES
Live video and live statistics for Tusculum baseball games this week are available on the TU athletic web site at www.TusculumPioneers.com. Also visit our web site for updated attendance policies at: https://www.tusculumpioneers.com/information/COVID/Attendance-Policies.
