GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum pitching duo of Sam Loew and Jacob Willett combined on a three-hit shutout in the night-cap as the Pioneers salvaged a split of a South Atlantic Conference baseball doubleheader with Lincoln Memorial Saturday afternoon at Pioneer Park.
The Railsplitters rallied from a 5-0 deficit with 10 unanswered runs in Saturday's first game in a 10-5 victory. Tusculum plated three runs in the first inning and made the lead stick in a 3-0 win the series finale.
LMU (10-8, 2-1 SAC) wins the weekend series 2-1 while the Pioneers (9-9, 1-5 SAC) recorded its first league win of the season and avoids their first 0-6 SAC start since 2000.
Game 1: Lincoln Memorial 10, Tusculum 5
Lincoln Memorial catcher Cameron Powser came off the bench and went 2-for-4 with four RBI, including his three-run homer in the seventh inning to drive in the go-ahead runs in en route to a 10-5 win over Tusculum.
LMU trailed 5-0 after four innings as TU starting pitcher Gunner Becker was on fire early, retiring the first six batters of the game and faced the minimum 12 batters through four frames. He gave up a lead-off double to Tucker Hagan in the third, but got a double-play to get out of trouble.
Meanwhile, Tusculum plated a run in the first inning and scored four times in the fourth including a two-run single by Zach Wilson, followed by a two-run home run off the bat of Zane Keener, all with two outs.
Becker used only 24 pitches through the first four innings before taking the mound in the fifth. Ryan Kurth led off with a double and moved to third on Kasten Harvey's infield hit. With zero outs, Andrew Keane sent a fly ball to left field which was dropped allowing Kurth to score. Harvey was thrown out at the plate on a fielder's choice for the first out of the inning. Powser drew a pinch-hit walk to load the bases for Collin Coda. Coda would line a shot to short but hit Hagan advancing from second to third for the second out of the frame. Chris Hall drew a bases loaded walk to bring home the second run of the inning and Cameron Bowen followed with a two-out single to left field to pull LMU to within one (5-4).
LMU's David Brian Ellison took over for starting Bryce Woody on the mound and pitched 2.1 shutout innings, scattering three hits and posted a strikeout.
Becker worked a perfect sixth inning where he recorded his fourth and fifth strikeouts of the game to maintain the one-run lead.
But in the top of the seventh, Keene flared a double down the left field line and moved to second when Hagan reached on a fielder's choice bunt as the throw to third was not in time to get Keene. Powser would send a towering fly ball to left field which cleared the wall for his second home run of the season and a 7-5 lead for LMU.
Justin Parker took over for Becker as he would get out of the inning with TU down by a pair of runs. Luis Ezra led off with an infield single and moved to second on Flood's bunt. Reliever Beau Nichols came on to face Will Samuelson, but would pick off Ezra at second for the out to end the threat.
LMU added three insurance runs in the ninth including a two-run single by Bowen and Nichols closed out the Pioneers in the bottom of the frame to secure his second save of 2022. Ellison picked up the win to move to 3-0 on the year.
Tusculum finished the game with 11 hits including Wilson's 4-for-5 performance and two-hit outings from Flood and Christian Ortega.
Game 2: Tusculum 3, Lincoln Memorial 0
Tusculum took advantage of a pair of first inning errors and rode the pitching performances of Lowe and Willett as the Pioneers blanked Lincoln Memorial 3-0 in Saturday's second game.
Loew overcame a shaky start in the first inning, but allowed only one runner to reach second base in his four innings of work to pick up his first win of the season. Willett took over in the fifth inning and worked around a single and a walk while retiring the last five batters in order to secure his first save of the campaign.
In the top of the opening frame, Hall singled and Bowen drew a walk to get things started against Loew. The LMU duo attempted a double-steal, but Samuelson threw out Hall at third base, while Bowen moved to second on the throw. Carson Boles grounded out to second for the first out of the inning to move Bowen to third and Kurth grounded out to Loew on the mound to end the threat.
Wilson got aboard with a lead-off single in the first inning and Zane Keener drew a walk from LMU starter Alex Brewer. Wes Reynolds legged out a bunt single and the throw to first base was errant allowing Wilson and Keener to score and moving Reynolds to third base. Brewer struck out Ezra for the first out of the inning. Murphy Flood's ground ball went under the glove of the LMU infielder allowing Reynolds to score the inning's third run. Brewer got a double-play to end the inning as Tusculum led 3-0.
From there, it was a pitchers' showcase between Loew and Brewer. Loew worked around a one-out walk with three strikeouts in the second inning. He retired the Splitters in order in the third and got three fly outs in the fourth to maintain the shutout.
Tusculum got runners aboard in four straight innings but Brewer got out of every jam as he stranded five base runners in the game.
Willett joined the fray in the fifth in relief of Loew (1-0) as he walked Hagan to start his outing, but Samuelson came up with his second throw out of the contest. Willett would finish with three strikeouts in his three-inning save.
Brewer (1-4) pitched a six-inning complete game in the loss as he scattered six hits, three runs, one earned, walked two and struck out six in the loss.
Reynolds led the way offensively for Tusculum with his 3-for-3 effort, while Wilson, Jaden Steagall and Rudy Fernandez all had base hits for the Black and Orange.
Tusculum returns to action next weekend when they host nationally-ranked Lenoir-Rhyne for a three-game SAC series at Pioneer Park beginning with Friday's opener at 6 p.m.
