GREENEVILLE, Tenn. — The Trevecca Nazarene pounded out a dozen hits including four home runs as the Trojans defeated host Tusculum 9-5 Tuesday afternoon in a non-conference baseball contest at Eastman Credit Union Field & Pioneer Park.
Former Pioneer Caleb Webster went 3-for-4 with three RBI including a home run and two stolen bases for the Trojans (7-3). TNU teammate Cade Moore added a homer and a double to go along with his two RBI, while Cade Martin had two hits with a triple and a home run.
The Tusculum trio of Landon Dockery, Ryan Ortega and Evan Goins each accounted for three hits as the Pioneers finished the day with 11 hits but left 15 runners on base. TU also committed three errors resulting in four unearned runs for the visitors.
Tusculum (4-7) took an early 1-0 lead when Dockery and Ortega led off with back-to-back singles. Steve Scarfone reached on an error to load the bases and Jake Absher‘s fly out drove in Dockery from third with the game’s first run. Kolby Watson was hit by a pitch to load the bases again, but TNU starting pitcher Parker Davis limited the damage with a double play to get out of the inning.
The Trojans tied the game in the third frame when Webster led off with a solo blast over the left field wall for his first home run of the season.
Trevecca scored three times in the fourth inning as Miles Nelson led off with a homer to right field. Later in the inning with two outs, Landon Rogers hit a RBI double down the left field line to chase starting pitcher Will Webb out of the game. Webster would drive in the third run of the inning with his two-out single up the middle for a 4-1 Trevecca lead.
Tusculum answered with a run in the bottom of the inning as Nate Davidson reached on an error and scored on Goins’ third double of the year as TU trailed 4-2.
In the top of the sixth inning, the Trojans scored five runs on four hits and took advantage of two Tusculum errors to stretch the lead to 9-2. Martin belted a solo home run, Webster hit a sacrifice fly, Moses legged out an infield single and Cade Moore hit a two-run homer to account for the offense in the frame.
Tusculum responded with two runs in the bottom of the inning thanks to RBI singles by Dockery and Ortega as the Pioneers trailed 9-4.
TU made the game interesting in the bottom of the ninth. After a pair of strikeouts to start the inning, Goins got aboard with his third hit of the afternoon. Alejandro Ponte drew a walk and Caden Rector followed with a RBI double as TU made it a 9-5 game. Pinch hitter Evan Cage drew a walk to load the bases and bring the potential tying run to the plate. Buy Nelson made a fine play at third base to throw out Ortega at first to end the game.
Trevecca reliever Dawson Sweeney (1-0) picked up the victory as he went two innings, allowed two hits, one unearned run, zero walks and two strikeouts. Davis went 3.0 innings as he allowed one run on three hits, one walk and a strikeout. TNU’s Justin Lee pitched 2.1 hitless innings with a walk and a strikeout.
Webb suffered the loss as he went 3.2 innings, allowed four runs, five hits and two walks. Cooper Emery pitched 1.1 shutout innings, while Christian Ponte tossed a perfect ninth inning on eight pitches.
Tusculum returns to South Atlantic Conference play on Friday when they host Anderson for a 6 p.m. contest at Eastman Credit Union Field & Pioneer Park.
