GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The King University baseball team pounded out 14 runs on 15 hits including a grand slam as the Tornado posted a 14-8 non-conference win over host Tusculum University Wednesday at Pioneer Park.

King (14-13) jumped out to a 14-0 advantage after the fourth inning and made that lead stick as TU (13-18) showed some fight down the stretch, but it would not be enough.

The Tornado got 3-hit performances from Roper Truman, Connor Andrews, and Caleb Helms, while former Tusculum catcher Deric Graham belted a grand slam in his first at-bat against his former club to spark a 5-run first inning. King score five times in the first, twice in the second, three times in the third and four more runs in the fourth to go ahead 14-0.

Tusculum answered with five runs in the bottom of the frame as graduate student Ryan Kavulick recorded the first hit of his TU career when he hit a grand slam off the scoreboard in left field. Connor Jurek legged out a triple and later scored on a Blaze McCauley ground out to trim the deficit to 14-5.

Meanwhile the Tusculum pitching trio of Drew Miller, Gage Newsom and Drew Sliwinski blanked the Tornado for the final 5.2 innings. TU scratched out a run in the sixth on Ryan Dos Santos two-out single.

The Pioneers plated two runs in the ninth and were looking to add on more, but KU reliever Ryan McFarland got the final three outs of the game including a pair of strikeouts to seal the victory.

King starting pitcher Brendan Mascle shut out the Pioneers through the opening three innings and limited TU to a pair of base runners. He would pitch the fourth, but ran into trouble as the Pioneers sent nine batters to the plate.

KU reliever Trevor Beards (1-1) took over in the fifth and pitching three innings to secure the win. TU starting pitcher Austin Collins (0-1) suffered the loss for the Black and Orange.

Tusculum finished the game with nine hits including Dos Santos 2-for-3 effort.

The Pioneers return to action this weekend as they travel to West Georgia for a three-game non-conference series against the Wolves in the first meeting ever between the two schools. The weekend set begins with a 6 p.m. contest on Friday followed by a 1 p.m. doubleheader on Saturday.