Tuesday, April 15, 2008

TUSCULUM BASEBALL BEATS KING 11-7

GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Carlos Rivera and Maikol Gonzalez recorded three RBI each to lead the No. 29 Tusculum College baseball team to an 11-7 win over visiting King College Tuesday night at Pioneer Park. Tusculum (34-12) completes the season sweep over the Tornado (26-11), while winning its 10^th game in its last 11 outings.

A dozen pitchers saw action in the nine-inning contest, including Tusculum’s Tyler Collins, who pitched 2 1/3 innings of shutout relief to improve his record to 4-0 on the year.

Tusculum sent 11 batters to the plate in a six-run, second inning, including a three-run triple by Rivera and a two-run single from Eric Conley as the Pioneers jumped out to a 7-0 advantage.

But King would chip away at the deficit as the Tornado scored three runs in the third and two more in the fourth. In the third inning, Justin Reising and Drew Trujillo drew a pair of lead-off walks in the third. Joe Craven singled and Mike Torrence came through with a two-run double. In the fourth Matt Morris clubbed a two-run homer to left field, his second of the season, to cut the TC lead to 7-5.

Tusculum got a run back in the bottom of the frame as Matt Webb doubled to left field and scored on Sean Cotten’s two-out single as the Pioneers led 8-5.

In the middle innings, both bull pens stepped up as Collins induced a double-play ground out to end the fifth and proceeded to retire the side in order in the fifth. King’s Eric Allen was most impressive as he retired all nine batters he would face, including three strikeouts to keep the Tornado in the game.

In the eighth inning, King plated an unearned run as Ryan Kennedy reached on an infield single, but moved to second on a throwing error. After a passed ball moved Kennedy to third, Morris answered the call once again with his double to the gap in right field as King was down only by two (8-6).

The Pioneers fought back with three runs in the eighth, including a two-out single by Gonzalez as Tusculum led 11-6, to seal the win.

Eight different players recorded a hit on the night for Tusculum, including Gonzalez as he extended his hitting streak to 22 consecutive games. Christian Rosa went 1-for-4, but scored three runs. King got two-hit performances from Teon Richburg, Craven and Morris, while Kennedy plated a pair of runs in the contest.

Tusculum, the No. 3 seed in this year’s Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Tournament, will take on tournament host Lenoir-Rhyne College on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in day one of the six-team, double-elimination format.

- TC -