CLEVELAND, Tenn. --- Omar Carreras went 2-for-4 with a homer while five Tusculum pitchers limited Lee University to four hits on the night as the Pioneers prevailed 7-2 Tuesday night at Larry Carpenter Stadium.
Tusculum (15-23) snapped a three-game losing streak while avenging last month's 16-2 home loss to the Flames (22-16) to gain a split in the season series. Lee entered the game winners of nine of its last 10 contests.
Tusculum led wire-to-wire and jumped out to a 3-0 lead plating two scores in the second on Ty Smith's two-run homer, his fourth of the season. Carerras added a solo blast in the third, also his fourth round-tripper of 2025.
The Flames got on the board in the bottom of the third thanks to a two-out RBI single from Brock Sisson as Lee trailed 3-1.
Tusculum got the run back in the sixth when Jayden Singleton was hit by a pitch and later scored on Caleb Webster's two-out single to make it 4-1 in favor of the visitors.
Malachi Cloud clubbed his third homer of the year, a solo blast in the sixth to trim the TU lead to 4-2.
The Pioneers tacked on three insurance runs in the eighth thanks to Avery Collins' RBI double, which was followed by a two-run double off the bat of Sawyer Pace as the Pioneers extended the lead to 7-2.
TU starter Cooper Emery recorded two hitless innings as he posted two strikeouts with a walk. Ayden Moore pitch two innings to record the victory as he went two innings while notching a pair of strikeouts. Scout Martin tossed two quality innings where he allowed one hit, one run with a strikeout.
Brice Anders blanked the Flames in the seventh inning as he worked around a hit batter and a walk. Caid Sanders pitched two perfect innings with three strikeouts to close out the contest.
Tusculum finished the game with 11 hits as Pace and Carreras accounted for two hits apiece.
Lee starter Dylan Van Meeteren suffered the loss to move to 2-4 on the season.
The Pioneers return to South Atlantic Conference play this weekend when they host in-state foe Lincoln Memorial for a three-game series beginning with Friday's 4 p.m. opener.
