EMORY, Va. --- Will Samuelson went 3-for-3 with a pair of home runs to lead the Tusculum Pioneers to a 9-4 non-conference baseball win over Emory & Henry Tuesday afternoon at Porterfield-Devault Field.
Tusculum (22-15) records its third straight win and avenges last month's home loss to the Wasps (8-28).
Samuelson reached base in all five of his plate appearances as he added a single and two walks while also driving in four runs. Zane Keener went 2-for-2 on the afternoon including his fourth home run of the year to start the game.
Tusculum jumped out to a 4-0 lead as the Pioneers scored a run in the first and three more in the second. Samuelson got the scoring started in the second inning with two outs as he homered to right field. Luis Reyes followed with a single, stole second and scored on Blaze McCauley's double. Keener drove in the third run of the inning with his base hit.
Emory & Henry plated a run in the fourth inning and had two on base with one out. Drew Sliwinski took over for starter Billy Quinn and got an infield pop-up and a strikeout to end the inning.
Tusculum added a run in the inning when Darien Farley was hit by a pitch and later scored on Murphy Flood's groundout to make it a 5-1 game. TU added four runs in the seventh which included a RBI single from Flood and a three-run homer by Samuelson to extend the lead to 9-1.
E&H made some noise in the ninth inning as the first five batters got aboard and scored three times to make it a 9-4 game. But closer Jacob Willett took over and retired three in a row, including a pair of strikeouts to end the contest.
Sliwinski (1-3) was credited with the victory as he pitched three shutout innings. Emory & Henry starter Michael Owen (2-2) suffered the loss.
The Wasps finished the game with 11 hits including Camden Bailey's 3-for-5 performance.
Samuelson takes over the team-lead with his fifth and sixth home runs as he records his second two-homer game of the season. He belted two homers on Feb. 19 against Davis & Elkins.
Keener has now reached base safely in his last 40 consecutive games which is the fifth-longest streak in school history.
The Pioneers continue their season-long eight-game road swing as Tusculum travels to 16th-ranked Lenoir-Rhyne this weekend for a three-game South Atlantic Conference series against the Bears beginning with Friday's 5 p.m. contest.
