MARS HILL, N.C. --- Mars Hill catcher Trevor Bailey drove in the winning run when he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 10th inning as the Lions edged visiting Tusculum 7-6 Sunday afternoon at Henderson Field.
Mars Hill (7-22, 4-8 SAC) wins the weekend South Atlantic Conference series 2-1 as all three games were decided by one run in the final inning. Tusculum (18-9, 8-4 SAC) has played in 10 one-run contests this year with seven coming in conference games alone.
The Lions post their second extra-inning, walk-off win in a row as Mars Hill overcame an early 4-0 deficit and rallied from a 5-3 score with a run in the sixth and two in the eighth to take a 6-5 advantage heading to the ninth inning.
Tusculum took advantage of a fielding error and Darien Farley hit a two-out single in the top of the ninth to tie the score at 6-6.
In the bottom of the 10th, TU pitcher Jacob Willett hit Tyler Sellers with a pitch. A ground out moved him to second before Alex Narran and pinch-hitter Silas Isenhour drew back-to-back walks to load the bases. Sam Bonilla took over on the mound for Tusculum but he would hit Bailey with a pitch to bring home the winning run.
Mars Hill reliever Jake Wagoner (4-2) picked up his second straight win against Tusculum as he went three innings on Sunday, allowed two hits, one unearned run and posted a strikeout. Willett (3-2) suffered the loss for Tusculum. In fact, Wagoner and Willett were the pitchers of record for their teams in every game this weekend.
Tusculum scored four times in the first inning to take a 4-0 lead. Zane Keener was hit by a pitch and Ben Scartz drew a walk to put two runners aboard. Christian Ortega followed with his team-leading 11th double of the season to drive in the game's first run and moved Scartz to third base. Murphy Flood's fly out to right field was bobbled allowing Scartz to score and putting runners in scoring position at second and third. Farley singled to left field to drive in two more runs for a four-run lead.
The Lions answered with three runs in the fourth inning as MHU opened the frame with five straight hits including a double from Sellers and RBI singles from Connell and Naran.
Tusculum got a run back in the top of the fifth as Ortega hit a solo homer to center field and extend the lead to 5-3.
Mars Hill got the run back in the bottom of the frame as Jordan Lathe led off with a single and later scored on Sellers' double to make it a 5-4 game.
In the bottom of the eighth with two outs, Sellers tied the game at 5-5 with his fourth home run of the season. Connell followed with a single, moved to second on a wild pitch and onto third on Naran's infield single. Isenhour drove in the go-ahead run with his base hit to make it 6-5.
Ortega and Farley each had two hits for the Black and Orange, while Lathe, Sellers and Naran all posted three-hit performances.
Tusculum returns home for a pair of midweek games against nationally-ranked West Georgia. The Pioneers and Wolves will play Tuesday night at 6 p.m. followed by Wednesday's 1 p.m. contest.
