JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. --- Tusculum's Wes Reynolds with 3-for-5 with four RBI including a pair of home runs to lead the Pioneers to a 9-5 non-conference win over Carson-Newman Wednesday afternoon at the Silver Diamond Complex.
The Pioneers (8-7) racked up a season-high 15 hits including four homers as TU recorded its fourth straight win in Jefferson City and have won eight of its last 10 at Mossy Creek.
TU also got three-hit performances from Luis Ezra and Will Samuelson, while Zach Wilson went 2-for-5 for the visitors.
Carson-Newman (10-7) tallied seven hits on the afternoon including two hits each by Killiam Daughtry, Jordan Griffin and Zach Boze.
The Eagles scored a run in each of the first two innings to take a 2-0 lead off of TU starting pitcher Brice Anders. The Pioneers took its first lead of the day at 3-2 on Reynolds first home or the day, a three-run blast to left field off of C-N reliever Corey Wilson.
The pitching staffs took over in the middle innings. TU's Gage Newsome tossed three shutout frames where he retired the sides in order in the fourth and fifth innings and worked around a lead-off walk in the sixth. The C-N trio of Ryan Smithson, Noah Pridmore and Grif Hughes kept the Pioneers off the board as well.
In the top of the seventh, Tusculum mounted a two-out rally as Reynolds made it 4-2 with his solo blast. Ezra followed with a base hit and Christian Ortega belted his third homer of the season, a two-run shot to left and a 6-2 TU lead.
The Eagles would chip away at the deficit as Boze led off the seventh with a home run. In the eighth, Daughtry connected on a one-out home to left field and Boze came through again with his RBI single. But on the play he was thrown out at second base for the final out of the inning.
Tusculum tacked on three insurance runs in the ninth including Ezra's two-run homer and Wilson added a RBI single later in the frame. TU's Drew Sliwinski hit the first batter he faced in the ninth, but recorded three consecutive strikeouts to end the game.
Newsom (1-0) picked up his first win in a Tusculum uniform as he pitched three hitless frames with one walk and two strikeouts.
The two teams will meet again in a South Atlantic Conference series at Tusculum in April.
The Pioneers return home this weekend to host long-time in-state foe Lincoln Memorial for a three-game SAC series beginning with Friday's 6 p.m. opener at Pioneer Park.
