MARS HILL, N.C. --- Tusculum University's Luke Absher and Cooper Emery combined on a three-hit shutout as the Pioneers posted an 8-0 South Atlantic Conference win over Mars Hill Friday afternoon at Henderson Field.
Absher (1-3) pitched 6.2 sterling innings as he limited the Lions (8-21, 3-10) to a pair of singles with one walk and six strikeouts. Emery pitched the final 2.1 innings as he posted five strikeouts and worked around a one-out double in the eighth inning. For Emery, it was his third save of the season.
Tusculum (9-18, 4-9 SAC) got on the board first when Omar Carreras hit a solo home run to left field to an early 1-0 lead.
Absher and MHU starter Dylan Vega settled in for an old-fashion pitchers' duel through the first six innings as TU maintained its 1-0 lead. Absher retired eight in a row and after giving up a lead-off hit to Jackson Jones in the fifth, he followed by recording eight straight outs.
Meanwhile Vega (1-4) retired eight straight Pioneers before TU mounted a threat in the fifth. Tusculum had two runners aboard, but Vega ended the inning with a strikeout. He retired the side in the sixth and got the first two outs in the seventh, before TU made a two-out rally. Sawyer Pace hit a double to right and scored on Ty Smith's two-run homer to left as TU stretched the lead to 3-0.
Tusculum added three more runs in the eighth and scored twice in the ninth to stretch the lead to 8-0. In the eighth, Carreras led off with a walk and later scored on an error. Max Schmarder hit a RBI single to left and later scored himself on Landon Dockery's two-out single.
In the ninth, Tusculum sent eight batters to the plate thanks to three walks and two singles including a RBI base hit by Schmarder followed by a bases-loaded walk from Connor Jurek.
Tusculum finished the game with 10 hits as Carreras, Schmarder and Pace each had multiple-hit outings.
Schmarder extends his personal hitting streak to 17 straight games while also moving his on-base streak to 22 consecutive games which is tied for the 12th longest in program history.
Friday's victory was also TU's first shutout victory at Henderson Field since Mar. 4, 2017 when TU won 3-0.
The two teams will wrap-up the weekend series with a Saturday doubleheader beginning at 12 p.m.
