SALISBURY, N.C. --- Tusculum reliever Jacob Willett pitched 4.2 hitless innings as the Pioneers downed Catawba 5-1 Sunday afternoon at Newman Park in South Atlantic Conference baseball action.
Tusculum (24-20, 10-11 SAC) snaps a five-game losing streak with the victory while also ending a nine-game skid at the hands of the Catawba Indians (25-19, 14-6 SAC). TU tentatively moves into a tie for sixth place in the league standings while Catawba slips into a tie for fourth.
The Pioneers accounted for six hits on the afternoon with all six going for extra bases including three doubles and three home runs. Christian Ortega went 2-for-4 including his seventh homer of the year as well as his SAC-leading 19th double of 2023. Tyler Ranel homered for a third time this weekend, moving him into the team-lead with eight round-trippers this season.
Tusculum posted a two-out charge in the third when Ben Scartz hit his 10th double of the season and scored on Ranel's two-run blast to left. Zane Keener followed with his fifth home run of the year to make it a 3-0 game.
Meanwhile, TU starting pitcher Jonathan Nelson made his second mound appearance in as many days while still recovering from being hit in the mouth with a line drive last month. Nelson, who tossed a shutout inning in Saturday's second game, continued his master of the Indians through the first four innings. He worked out of a bases loaded jam in the first with an inning-ending double play.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Catawba's Reece Crump led off with a double. After Nelson got a ground out, Crump moved to third on a wild pitch. A walk to Levi Perrell put runners on the corners. Willett took over and surrendered a sacrifice fly to Dillon Driver to make it a 3-1 contest.
Tusculum got the run back in the top of the sixth as Ortega hit a solo blast to center field to move TU back out to a 4-1 lead. TU added an insurance run in the eighth as Rudy Fernandez drew a two-out walk and scored on Will Samuelson's double.
Willett faced the minimum nine batters in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings combined. He got the first two outs in the ninth before walking back-to-back batters. He would strike out Crump looking for the final out of the day as TU salvaged a win in the three-game set.
Tusculum will wrap up the regular-season next weekend when they host Anderson for a SAC series beginning with Friday's 6 p.m. contest.
