GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum University baseball team continues its season-long homestand when they welcome 29th-ranked Molloy College to Pioneer Park for a three-game weekend series.
The two teams will square off in a 1 p.m. doubleheader on Saturday followed by Sunday's series finale at noon.
The Pioneers (4-3) are coming off a four-game split with No. 36 Illinois Springfield in TU's 2022 home debut. The Molloy Lions will be making their inaugural trip to Greeneville and this weekend will be their 2022 season-opener.
SCOUTING THE PIONEERS
Leading the charge offensively for the Pioneers is sophomore outfielder Zane Keener. Keener is batting a team-best .391 (19th in SAC) with two doubles, a triple, two home runs and nine RBI (T8th in SAC). He is boasting a .517 on-base percentage (8th in SAC), while slugging .826 (5th in SAC) with six runs scored.
Third baseman Christian Ortega has worked his way into the starting lineup where he is hitting .381 with a pair of home runs and six RBI.
Senior outfielder Wes Reynolds is batting .318 and leading the team with three doubles (T9th in SAC), while second baseman Zach Wilson has a .308 batting average and leads the club with eight runs scored.
Senior outfielder Kyle Williams has been hitting .292 out of the No. 9 spot in the lineup and is tied for second on the roster with six RBI and leads the team with his three sacrifice bunts (T3rd in SAC).
Harbor Jefferson has been victorious in each of his two starts on the mound. The graduate student has a 2-0 record with a sterling 0.73 earned run average (6th in SAC). In his 12.1 innings of work he has posted nine strikeouts with zero walks and is limiting the opposition to a .220 average.
Senior Gunner Becker is 1-1 this season with a 6.43 ERA and leads the team with 11 strikeouts (15th in SAC) in his seven innings on the bump. Reliever Tyler Smith picked up a win in relief in Sunday's win over Illinois Springfield. In his two appearances, he has a 1-0 record with a 0.00 ERA with five strikeouts and holding opposing batters to a .071 average.
SCOUTING MOLLOY
The Molloy College Lions make the 671-mile trek from Rockville Centre, New York for the inaugural encounter with the Pioneers.
Molloy is a NCAA Division II affiliate and are members of the East Coast Conference. The Lions went 25-11 last year and finished runner-up in the ECC regular-season. Molloy came on strong in the postseason to win the ECC Tournament title and earn the league's automatic berth to the NCAA II Tournament where the Lions advanced to the East Regional championship game.
Head coach Joe Fucarino is in his 17th season with the Lions and returns seven starters from last year's club.
Molloy is the preseason favorite to win the East Coast Conference crown and are led by ECC Preseason Player of the Year Matt Overton and Pitcher of the Year Charlie Cucchiara. Overton returns to the field as the team's leading returning hitter from a season ago. He led the ECC with 38 RBI while batting .367 at the plate while earning All-ECC first team honors. Cucchiara returns as the ace of the Molloy pitching staff, coming off a season where he collected five wins, tallied a 1.80 ERA, and was named the Most Outstanding Player of the ECC Tournament.
FOLLOW THE GAMES
Tusculum will be providing live statistics for all three games this weekend and are available at www.TusculumStats.com and also on www.TusculumPioneers.com. There will be a video stream of Sunday's series finale only.
TICKETS
Admission for Tusculum home baseball games is $5 for all entrants and children 12 and under will be admitted free. Tusculum students and faculty & staff will be admitted free and a valid Tusculum ID is required. Fans may also purchase tickets online in advance through HomeTown Ticketing at www.TusculumPioneers.com/information/tickets.
Spectators using HomeTown Ticketing can choose to print tickets at home or use mobile entry tickets at the gate.
Face masks and face coverings are encouraged, but not required for Tusculum "outdoor" athletic events. Spectators are encouraged to practice physical distancing within the 2,400-seat Pioneer Park.
