GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Tusculum University outfielder Zane Keener went 2-for-3 with a career-high six RBI including a grand slam as the Pioneers defeated Cedarville University 10-7 Tuesday afternoon at Pioneer Park.
Tusculum (14-4) scored four runs each in the third and fourth innings and tacked on two more in the eighth to take a 10-1 lead. The Pioneers would need every one of those runs as the Yellow Jackets (3-11) sent 12 batters to the plate in the ninth, scored six times and had the bases loaded before TU reliever Jonathan Nelson got a strikeout to end the game.
Along with his grand slam, Keener also added a two-run double as he extends his hitting streak to 14 consecutive games. Third baseman Christian Ortega also had a pair of singles to raise his South Atlantic Conference-leading batting average to .474 and extend his string of game reaching base safely to 20 in a row.
Tusculum starting pitcher Tyler White tossed four shutout innings while scattering three hits, a walk and two hit batters. Trejen Fox-Birdwell took over in the fifth as he gave up a run, but closed out his three-inning effort by retiring the last seven batters in a row to earn his first win as a Pioneer.
TU reliever Sam Bonilla tossed a perfect eighth inning with a pair of strikeouts in his Pioneer debut.
Tusculum sent 10 batters to the plate in the bottom of the third as Wes Reynolds led off with his first career triple, while Will Samuelson and Luis Reyes drew walks to load the bases. Keener stepped up and lined a shot over the wall in right field for a grand slam and a 4-0 lead. It was his first homer of the season and 12th of his TU career. Tusculum loaded the bases again in the inning, but Cedarville's Spencer Allen took over for start David Nairn (0-1) and got an infield line-out to limit the damage.
The first five Pioneers reached base in a 4-run fourth inning. Samuelson led off with a single, moved to second on wild pitch and scored on Britten Robinson's RBI single. Luis Reyes drew his second walk in as many innings and Keener followed with his two-run double down the right field line for a 7-0 Tusculum lead. He would make it 8-0 on Ortega's RBI base hit.
The Yellow Jackets scratched out a run in the fifth when Kale Ebling drew a one-out walk, stole second and scored on Blais Hale's two-out single.
In the bottom of the eighth the Pioneers scored twice thanks to Kaden Swaim's third sacrifice fly of the season and Murphy Flood followed with a RBI double to make it a 10-1 game.
The ninth inning started off well for Tusculum and reliever Alex Crosby and he recorded a strikeout to open the frame and the 11th consecutive out by TU pitching.
But a single by Kaden Shook and walks by Hunter Laurell, Caleb McKinion and Micah Stewart brought home the inning's first run. Crosby struck out Ebling for the second out, but three straight singles by the Jackets trimmed the TU lead to 10-5 as the bases were loaded.
Nelson took over on the mound, but he hit Daniel Sewak with a pitch and Kaden Shook drew a walk to drive in two more runs to make a three-run game at 10-7 with the go-ahead run coming to the plate. But Nelson fanned Laurell for the final out of the game.
Tusculum finished the game with nine hits and drew seven walks, while Cedarville had eight hits with six walks and three hit batters.
The Pioneers close out their 16-game home-stand with an impressive 14-2 record. Tusculum goes on the road on Wednesday for a mid-week non-conference game at Carson-Newman. First pitch from the Silver Diamond Complex is 2 p.m. TU defeated the Eagles 10-4 in last month's first meeting in Greeneville.
