BRISTOL, Tenn. --- Ryan Dos Santos went 5-for-6 with five RBI to lead the Tusculum University baseball team to a 15-14 win at King University Tuesday afternoon at the King Baseball Field.
The Pioneers (17-26) snap a five-game losing streak while avenging last month's 14-8 home loss to the Tornado (18-18) to split the season series.
Tusculum scored three runs each in the fourth and fifth innings and erupted for five more tallies in the sixth to take a 13-6 lead. TU tacked on two more runs in the seventh to move out to a 15-6 advantage, before King made a furious rally with seven runs in the bottom of the ninth and had the tying run at the plate before the final out was recorded.
Both teams accounted for 17 hits apiece including 13 extra base hits combined. Dos Santos came a home run shy of hitting for the cycle as he accrued two singles, two doubles and a triple in his base hit tally.
TU's Connor Jurek went 4-for-6 and scored three runs, while Rudy Fernandez was a perfect 3-for-3 with three runs scored and four RBI. King's Robbie Scott went 3-for-4 with two home runs including his two-out, three-run blast in the ninth to pull the Tornado to within a run before the final out was recorded.
Dos Santos five-hit performance is tied for the third-most by a Pioneer and first since Garrett Dupuis had a five-hit game against Bluefield State in 2019.
Scott got the scoring started for King with his solo home run in the first inning. Tusculum answered with two runs in the top of the second inning thanks to a RBI ground out by Jurek and a two-out single from Fernandez for a 2-1 lead. The Tornado responded with two runs in the bottom of the second with back-to-back RBI doubles from Caleb Helms and Preston Steele as KU regained the lead at 3-2.
The Pioneers plated three runs in the fourth as Jurek hit a one-out double and scored on Fernandez' base hit up the middle. Dos Santos moved Fernandez to third with his first double of the day and both would come into score on Zane Keener's two-out single for a 5-3 TU lead.
King tied the game at 5-5 in the bottom of the fourth on a Steele sacrifice fly and a Jarrett Backus RBI single.
TU scored three more times in the fifth, all with two outs. Jaden Steagall drew a walk and moved to second on Jurek's base hit. Fernandez posted his third hit of the day with a RBI single and Dos Santos followed with a two-run triple for an 8-5 Pioneer lead. King scratched a run in the bottom of the frame as Junior Renwick led off with a triple and later scored on a Cody Hutcherson sacrifice fly to trim the deficit to 8-6.
Tusculum sent 10 batters to the plate in the sixth inning as the Pioneers muscled out four hits including RBI singles from Steagall and Dos Santos. Fernandez also drew a bases loaded walk and Kyle Williams had a sacrifice fly as TU extended the lead to 13-6.
Dos Santos recorded his fifth hit of the afternoon with his two-run double in the seventh as the Pioneers led 15-6.
King scored a run in the eighth inning on Garret Huffman's two-out single to make it a 15-7 contest.
The first four King batters got on base in the ninth inning with one of them scoring on a Jake Greenwalt wild pitch to cut the deficit to 15-8. With the bases loaded and no outs, reliever Jacob Willett took over on the mound for the Pioneers.
Helms grounded out to drive in the inning's second run as the TU lead was cut to 15-9. Steele was hit by a pitch to load the bases again before Willett struck out Huffman for the second out of the frame.
Wes Bonney hit a two-run single to make the new score 15-11 and Scott followed with a three-run homer to left field to make it a 15-14 score. But Willett ended the game with a ground out to secure TU the road victory.
Tusculum's Gage Newsome (3-0) picked up the win in a relief, while King starter Brendan Mascle (0-1) suffered the loss.
The Pioneers return to action on Wednesday when they travel to UVA Wise for a mid-week non-conference game beginning at 5 p.m.
