NASHVILLE — Noah Boughton’s walk-off single in the 10th inning capped a late-game rally as 11th-ranked Trevecca Nazarene edged visiting Tusculum 9-8 Wednesday at Jackson Field.
The Trojans (21-7) have won eight of their last nine outings and complete the season-sweep over the Pioneers (9-17).
Trailing 8-6 heading into the bottom of the ninth, Nick Cook was hit by a pitch with one out. Wyatt Bowling would pinch run and moved into scoring position on a wild pitch. Pinch-hitter Drew Bradley doubled to left center to drive in Bowling to cut the deficit to 9-8. Elijah Cross would take over for Bradley and he would tie the game on Landon Rogers base hit to left and send the game into extra innings.
Tusculum’s Alejandro Ponte led off the 10th by reaching on an error. After a bunt moved the go-ahead run into scoring position, reliever Justin Lee got out of the jam with a pair of strikeouts.
In the bottom of the 10th, Cade Martin led off with a walk and moved to second on Caleb Webster’s infield single. Boughton would step to the plate and ended the contest with his single down the left field line to drive in Martin with the game-winning run.
The Trojans took an early 3-0 lead scoring once in the first and two more in the second inning. In the first, Boughton would drive in the first run with his one-out single. In the second frame, it was Rylan Moses who posted a two-out triple to account for the offense.
Tusculum answered with two runs in the top of the third. The Pioneers loaded the bases with three infield singles from Nate Davidson, Jake Smith and Ryan Ortega to start the inning. Davidson would score from third on Evan Cage‘s line out to center field. Ponte would follow with a RBI single to plate Smith to trim the deficit to 3-2.
Trevecca answered with three runs in the fourth as Martin and Webster drew back-to-back, bases-loaded walks and Boughton drove in his second RBI of the game with an infield grounder to extend the lead to 6-2.
The Pioneers responded in the fifth as Cage led off with single and moved to third on Ponte’s double to left center. Cage would tag up and score on Caden Rector‘s sacrifice fly as TU trailed 6-3. Jake Absher singled to put runners on the corners and Mason Johnson followed with a RBI single. After a walk to Davidson to load the bases, Smith hit a single to right field to bring home Absher as Tusculum trailed 6-5.
With two runners aboard with two outs, the Pioneers took advantage of an infield error which scored Rector and Ponte as Tusculum took its first lead of the game at 7-6.
The Trojans threatened in the bottom of the sixth when Webster and KC Anchors drew back-to-back, two-out walks. Pitcher Walker Pedante took over and struck out Cook to end the inning. Pedante worked around a two-out single in the seventh and retired the side in order in the eighth. Meanwhile, Rector led off the top of the eighth when he was hit by a pitch, moved to second on a wild pitch and advanced to third on a grounder for the second out of the frame. With Johnson at the plate, Rector scored on a wild pitch as TU extended the lead to 8-6.
Boughton went 3-for-5 for the Trojans as he posted three RBI. Rogers also had a three-hit performance for the home team, while Moses had two hits and two RBI in the victory.
Tusculum finished with 11 hits as Ponte, Johnson and Smith all had two-hit outings, while Cage reached base three times via a single and a pair of walks.
Lee (2-2) blanked the Pioneers for the final 2.2 innings to record the win.
The Pioneers return home this weekend to host Carson-Newman for a three-game South Atlantic Conference series beginning with Friday’s 6 p.m. opener at Eastman Credit Union Field & Pioneer Park.
