Saturday, April 19, 2008

TUSCULUM ADVANCES TO SAC BASEBALL TOURNAMENT FINAL, PIONEERS BEAT NO. 23 CATAWBA 12-7

HICKORY, N.C. --- On the strength of four home runs, No. 2 seed Tusculum College (37-12) advanced to the finals of the 2008 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Baseball Tournament Championship with a 12-7 come-from-behind victory over top-seeded Catawba College (36-15) Saturday afternoon at L.P. Frans Stadium.

With the win, Tusculum advances to Sunday’s SAC Tournament final for a second straight year and third time in the last four years.? The Pioneers (37-12) will take on the winner of Saturday?s elimination final.

Tusculum's Sean Cotten (Mooresville, N.C.) finished with three hits and four RBI, while Maikol Gonzalez (Maracaibo, Venezuela) added four hits as the Pioneers scored at least one run in each of the last six innings.

Catawba got things going in the bottom of the first inning on Craige Lyerly's (Salisbury, N.C./East Rowan HS) two-run single.

After the Catawba Indians pushed the lead 4-0 with two runs in the third inning, Tusculum reeled off nine straight runs aided by two-run homers from Cotten, Matt Webb (Duluth, Ga.) and Christian Rosa (Toa Baja, Puerto Rico) in the fourth, sixth and seventh innings, respectively.

Catawba's David Thomas (Winston-Salem, N.C.), the 2008 SAC Player Of The Year, hit a two-run home run to cut the margin to 9-6 in the bottom of the seventh, but Tusculum regained control with two runs in the top of the eighth inning en route to the win.

Thomas finished with four runs scored, while Lyerly drove in three runs for Catawba, who will face the Carson-Newman-Wingate winner in an elimination game at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday.

TC's Carlos Ortiz (Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico) improved to 3-1 with the win in relief, while Catawba's Travis McSweeney (Palm Harbor, Fla.) fell to 4-1 after suffering the loss. 

Tio McLean (Laurel Hill, N.C.) picked up his third save of the year for the Pioneers as he pitched the final 2 1/3 innings.

Tusculum pounded out 16 hits, including three hits by Rivera and a 3-for-3 effort from Marc Hyndsman (Oceansport, N.J.).

Gonzalez?s 4-for-6 showing, extends his hitting streak to 25 consecutive games, while Rosa has hit safely in his last 10.

- SAC -