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FLOOD WARNING!! Murphy Flood walks off twice in TU sweep over Coker

Murphy Flood celebrates the first of his two walk-off hits in Tusculum's sweep over Coker (photo by Chuck Williams)
Murphy Flood celebrates the first of his two walk-off hits in Tusculum's sweep over Coker (photo by Chuck Williams)

GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Tusculum's Murphy Flood accounted for a pair of walk-off singles as the Pioneers swept a South Atlantic Conference baseball doubleheader over Coker Saturday afternoon at Pioneer Arena.

Tusculum (12-4, 4-1 SAC) scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth for a 4-3 victory in the series opener. The Pioneers trailed by three runs going into their final at-bat in the second game, scoring four times in the bottom of the seventh in a 6-5 win.

Flood finished the day going 5-for-7 with five RBI as both of his walk-off hits came with the Pioneers down to their final out.

Game 1: Tusculum 4, Coker 3

Trailing 3-2 heading to their final at-bat, the Pioneers posted three hits in the bottom of the ninth inning as Flood lifted a deep fly ball to the wall in right field to drive in the Zane Keener with the winning run in a 4-3 Tusculum victory.

Flood went 3-for-3 in the contest with three RBI as the Pioneers finished with 11 hits.

It was a pitchers' duel between Tusculum starter Luke Absher and Coker's Cody Chapman. Absher blanked the Cobras through the first six innings, while Chapman tossed went five strong innings before running into trouble in the sixth.

The Pioneers plated one run each in the fourth and sixth innings. In the fourth, Keener led off with a walk, moved to third on Christian Ortega's double and scored on Flood's fly out.

Tusculum loaded the bases in the fifth inning with two outs thanks to a hit, a walk and a Coker error. But Chapman got out of the jam with a ground out to end the inning.

In the sixth, Ortega led off with his second double in a row and his sixth of the year. Flood followed with his third double of the young season to give TU a 2-0 advantage. Flood would be left on base as Coker reliever Ethan Graham got three fly outs to end the threat.

In the top of the seventh, Coker finally broke through as Nick Leonard led off with a double and later scored on Eli Hopkins RBI single up the middle. The Cobras struck for two runs in the eighth inning when Adam Wilkerson hit a one-out double. Jacob Willett took over on the mound for Absher. Donavan Frayer greeted him with a base hit to put runners at second and third. Willett got the second out on a foul pop up. But Leonard came through with a strategically placed single down the right field line to bring home Wilkerson and Frayer with the tying and go-ahead runs and a 3-2 lead.

Coker closer Cooper Thomas took over in the eighth inning and worked around a pair of singles in the frame and ended the threat with a strikeout to preserve the one-run lead.

In the bottom of the ninth, Ranel doubled to left field and Keener drew a one-out walk to put the tying and go ahead runs aboard. Ranel moved to third on Ben Scartz fly out. Ortega lined a single up the middle to bring home Ranel with the tying run and Flood followed with his heroics to score Keener from second base with the game-winner.

Willett (1-0) picked up the victory as he went 1.2 innings, allowed one run on two hits, zero walks and a strikeout. Absher finished the game with 7.1 innings, two runs, six hits and six strikeouts in a no-decision.  Thomas (2-2) suffered the loss for the Coker in his 1.2 innings on the mound.

Keener finished the game going 2-for-4 with two runs scored and walked three times. Leonard was the top Cobra at the plate with his three hits and two RBI, while Hopkins also had a multi-hit game.

Graham tossed two shutout innings for Coker, while Chapman went five innings, allowed two runs on five hits with three walks and four strikeouts in the no-decision for the Cobra starter.

Game 2: Tusculum 6, Coker 5

Tusculum overcame a pair of three-run deficits including a 5-2 hole in the seventh as the Pioneers got two-run singles from Keener and Flood for the 6-5 win.

Coker scored three times in the opening inning as eight Cobras went to the plate. The visitors used three hits and two walks to take the 3-0 lead. Leonard and Ashby Vining both had sacrifice flies and Jacob Yarberry had a two-out double to bring home the final run of the inning.

Tusculum scored two unearned run in the second inning thanks to a Coker error, a sacrifice squeeze bunt to bring in TU's first run. Will Samuelson drove in the second run of the inning with his two-out base hit to make it a 3-2 score.

The Cobras added a run in the fifth and another in the sixth to take a 5-2 lead heading into the seventh.

Meanwhile, Coker starting pitcher Jacob Hardy was tossing a gem as he held the Pioneers scoreless in the third through sixth innings.

In the top of the seventh, with reliever Drew Sliwinski entering his second inning of relief, gave up a hit and a walk. Jonathan Nelson took over with two outs to face Ashby Vining. On his second pitch, Vining hit a liner down the left field line, but outfielder Wes Reynolds made a diving catch to save two runs from scoring and holding the deficit to three runs.

Reynolds led off the bottom of the inning and was hit by a pitch to get things started. After a fly out, Blake McCauley and Ranel both legged out infield singles to load the bases. Keener went the opposite way with his two-run single to left to drive in Reynolds and McCauley to trail 5-4. Hardy got a strikeout for the second out of the inning. Ortega was hit by a pitch to load the bases and set the table again for Flood. He would answer the call a second time in as many games with his base hit to right field to bring in Ranel and Keener with the tying and winning run.

Nelson (2-0) earned the win with his two pitches, while Hardy (2-2) as he allowed six runs, four earned, 10 hits, zero walks and six strikeouts in his 6.2 innings on the mound.

The two teams will wrap up the weekend SAC series with Sunday's 1 p.m. single game at Pioneer Park.

 

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