Monday,
March 17, 2008
TUSCULUM
BASEBALL RALLIES TO SWEEP PAIR OVER COUGARS
GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum College baseball team had to
rally from behind in both games as the Pioneers swept a doubleheader over
visiting Caldwell College Monday at Pioneer Park. Tusculum (18-9) scored seven runs in the
bottom of the sixth in the opener to win 8-3 and rallied with six runs in their
final three at-bats to capture the night-cap 6-4.
Game 1: Tusculum 8, Caldwell 3
Carlos Rivera went 3-for-4, including a pair of doubles in Tusculum’s
seven-run sixth inning as the Pioneers prevailed 8-3. The Pioneers sent 11 batters to the plate,
including Christian Rosa’s
bases-loaded triple to break the game open.
Rosa finished with two hits, while Matt
Webb also accounted for a pair of singles.
Tusculum senior Ryan Pfleger
recorded the win in relief as he pitched 3.1 shutout innings, walking one
and striking out two in the victory.
The Pioneers drew first blood with
a run in TC’s opening at-bat, thanks to a RBI single by Maikol Gonzalez. But Caldwell answered
with a pair of runs in the second as Gabriel Molina drew a lead-off walk and scored on Juan Mejia’s RBI triple. Mejia would cross the plate himself on Tommy Murphy’s run-scoring single.
Caldwell added another scoring
tally in the third frame as Jorge Torres
walked and Molina answered with a clutch two-out double down the left field
line as the Cougars led 3-1.
The score would remain that way
until the sixth when Rivera led off with the first of two doubles in the inning.
Rivera moved to third on a ground out and after Dustin
Morrow was hit by a pitch to put runners on the corners, Matt Webb drove in Rivera with an infield hit. But on the throw to first, the ball sailed down
the right field line, scoring pinch-runner Jake Fowler all the way from first base to tie the game at 3-3. Following back-to-back walks to Nick Howington
and Matt Ford to load the bases,
Aaron Hudgins broke the deadlock with
walk to bring home the go-ahead run.
Rosa gave the Pioneers some insurance
runs with his bases-loaded triple to right center. Rivera wrapped up the big-inning for Tusculum
with his second double of the inning for the final margin.
Game 2: Tusculum
6, Caldwell 4
Webb went 2-for-2 for the Pioneers,
while Carlos Ortiz pitched the
final 2.2 innings to even his record at 1-1 on the season.
Murphy led the Cougars going 2-for-4,
including his third double of the year, while Doug Hilgenberg drove in a pair of RBI on
his base hit in the fourth inning to put Caldwell up by three.
Tusculum cut into the deficit with
a pair of unearned runs in fourth inning, thanks to a one-out throwing error
scoring Gonzalez and Morrow, who led off with back-to-back singles.
Caldwell answered with a run in
the fifth as Murphy led off with a double and later scored on Raymond Keelan’s fourth double of the season to move the Cougars up
4-2. Ortiz came on and surrendered a base hit to put runners on the corners,
but bounced back with a strikeout and a ground out to get out of the inning.
In the fifth, the Pioneers tied
the game at 4-4 thanks Webb and Morrow who recorded a RBI each in the frame. Tusculum utilized three hits and an error in
the sixth to take the lead, including a RBI single by Rivera as TC led 6-4.
Ortiz retired the side in order
in the seventh, including two strikeouts to close out the game.
Rosa, the South Atlantic Conference
Player of the Week, has extended his hitting streak to 23 straight games.
Tusculum will host Limestone on
Tuesday for a 4 p.m. contest, while Caldwell will be at Carson-Newman.
- TC -