GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum University baseball team will face a busy week as the Pioneers play five games this week including four on the road. All five games this week will be non-conference contests as well.
Tusculum will open the week on Tuesday with a rematch at Lee University before hosting in-state foe King University on Wednesday. TU will wrap up the week with a three-game weekend series at the University of West Georgia.
The Pioneers (13-16) posted a 2-2 record last week including an impressive 11-5 win over the Lee Flames. The Pioneers erupted for five runs early and led wire-to-wire. TU finished the game with 10 hits including two hits each by Wes Reynolds, Tyler Ranel and Ryan Dos Santos.
TU followed by dropping its next two games to Coker in a South Atlantic Conference series in South Carolina. The Pioneers jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the series opener but lost 10-9 in 10 innings. Ranel led the Pioneers with his two-homer night, including a grand slam as he finished the contest with five RBI.
Tusculum fell behind early and eventually fell 13-9 in an offensive slugfest. TU salvaged the series finale winning 7-2 on Saturday. Reliever Gage Newsom pitched 3.2 shutout innings and got out of a one-out, bases-loaded jam to pick up his second win of the season.
SCOUTING THE PIONEERS
The Pioneers step away for league play this week and will play its next six games out of conference including all five outings this week.
The hottest bat of late for the Pioneers is outfielder Tyler Ranel. The ETSU transfer went 7-of-15 last week including two home runs and eight RBI, while also scoring five runs. He posted a .579 on-base percentage last week to go along with a .933 slugging percentage. Ranel is batting .471 on the year.
Ryan Dos Santos has worked his way into the line-up where he is batting .341 with five doubles and a pair of stolen bases in his 20 contests. Wes Reynolds is next on the roster with his .314 batting average which includes team-best 32 total hits. He leads TU with seven doubles, five home runs and is second with 23 RBI and is the only player on the roster to have played in all 29 games. Will Samuelson is next with his .312 average where he has amassed 24 hits including five doubles, two homers and 15 RBI.
Zane Keener is hitting .302 and belted his fifth home run of the year in the mid-week win over Lee. Keener has 28 hits, 21 runs, five doubles, one triple and a team-best 24 RBI.
Newsom leads the team with his 2.12 earned run average while posting a 2-0 record out of the bullpen. Justin Parker is 2-2 with a 2.33 ERA in his team-leading 11 relief appearances where he has totaled 21 strikeouts.
Gunner Becker has made eight starts where he leads the team with his 32 strikeouts in 34.1 innings of work. Becker is 1-3 on the mound with a 5.77 ERA. Sam Loew suffered his first loss of 2022 on Saturday against Coker. He still sports a 2-1 record with a 4.57 ERA.
Veteran pitcher Tyler Harmon has been seeing time both as a starter of late. In his four appearances, including two starts, Harmon is 1-0 with a 2.16 ERA. He started the series-finale in the Coker series and left the game with lead in the fourth inning with one out.
Tusculum posted a .302 team batting average in its four games last week as the Pioneers accounted for 42 hits including 10 doubles, four home runs and scored 36 runs. TU also went 10-of-11 in stolen bases on the week.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
Lee: The Flames enter this week with a 13-17 overall record and are coming off an 11-0 home win over Alabama Huntsville which snapped a four-game losing streak. Series: Lee leads 8-7 in a series which began in 1979.
King: The King Tornado are 12-12 overall entering this week's action. King will play a mid-week home doubleheader with SAC member UVA Wise on Tuesday before traveling to Greeneville on Wednesday. The Tornado have dropped three of their last four games including a series loss at Erskine last weekend. Series: Tusculum leads 43-23 in a series which began in 1909. TU and King will meet again in Bristol on Apr. 19.
West Georgia: West Georgia enter the week with a 14-12 overall record and are coming off a doubleheader sweep at West Alabama on Saturday. The sweep snapped a three-game losing skid for the Wolves. Series: This will be the first recorded meeting between the Pioneers and the Wolves.
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. NO CASH PAYMENTS for game tickets will be accepted at the stadium.
FOLLOW THE GAMES
Live statistics will be provided for all games this week at www.TusculumPioneers.com. There will be a video stream for all five games available on the Tusculum Athletic web site.
