WISE, Va. — The Tusculum University baseball team combined for 29 runs on 35 hits as the Pioneers swept a South Atlantic Conference doubleheader over UVA Wise Saturday at Stallard Field
Evan Cage‘s game-winning home run in the top of the 12th inning propelled TU to a 13-11 victory in the opener. The Pioneers used two big innings and got a strong performance from starting pitcher Walker Pedante in a 16-1 victory in the night-cap.
With the sweep, the Pioneers (15-26, 9-18 SAC) move into a tie for eighth place in the league standings with two weekend series remaining in the regular season. UVA Wise drops to 10-30 on the season and 5-23 in conference play.
Game 1: Tusculum 13, UVA Wise 11 (12 innings)
Cage’s two-run homer in the top of the 12th inning proved to be the game-winner to lead Tusculum to a 13-11 victory over UVA Wise in Saturday’s first game.
Tusculum belted out 21 hits, but it was the Pioneer bullpen that shined as they blanked the Cavaliers for the final seven innings to secure the series win.
Ryan Ortega and Evan Goins recorded four hits apiece, while Alejandro Ponte and Jack Gagen had three hits each.
UVA Wise jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning as first baseman Jake Smith hit a one-out RBI single. Two batters later, Dane Frelick plated two runs with his double to center.
Tusculum answered with three runs in the top of the third as Goins led off with a single, moved to second on Ponte’s base hit and later scored on a fielding error. Gagen followed later with a two-run double to tie the game at 3-3.
The Cavaliers answered with five runs in the bottom of the third which included a three-run homer by Andrew Hardy and a two-run shot off the bat of Carter Babb for an 8-3 lead.
TU chipped away at the deficit scoring three times in the fourth inning thanks to a RBI single by Ortega to drive in Kolby Watson from second base. On the play, Goins, who go aboard earlier with a single, scored on an outfield error, which also allowed Ortega to move all the way to third. Ponte would bring home Ortega with a ground out to make it an 8-6 game.
The Cavs got the three runs back in the fifth with four straight hits. Joshua Morgan hit a one-out double and moved to third on Frelick’s single. Tanner Jones came through with a RBI single to bring home Morgan. Morgan Miller followed with a two-run double to increase the lead to 11-6.
The Tusculum offense went back to work scoring two runs each in the sixth and seventh innings and plated the tying run in the eighth to level the score at 11-11.
In the sixth, Goins and Ortega led off with back-to-back singles and Ponte drew a walk to load the bases. Landon Dockery legged out a fielder’s choice to drive in Goins from third. After Dockery was caught stealing, pinch-hitter Steve Scarfone hit a RBI double to left field to bring home Ortega as TU trailed 11-8.
In the seventh, Watson drew a lead-off walk and Keygan Miksa was hit by a pitch to put the first two batters aboard. After a fly out, Ortega doubled down the left line to score Watson and moved Miksa to third. Ponte loaded the bases again with a walk and Dockery hit a sacrifice fly to score Miksa as Tusculum trimmed the deficit to one (11-10).
In the eighth inning, Cage and Watson drew back-to-back walks and both moved up a base on a passed ball. Miksa walked to load the bases to set the table to Goins. He would single to right to drive in Cage, but Watson would be thrown out at the plate to keep the score at 11-11.
Tusculum had a great scoring chance in the top of the ninth as Ponte led off with a double. Nathan Hayworth would come in as a pinch-runner. Dockery moved the runner over with his bunt single, but Dockery would be tagged out at second for the first out of the game. The go-ahead run would be stranded following a pair of ground outs to end the inning.
In the top of the 12th, Gagen led off with a double and would score himself on Cage’s two-run homer down the right field line as Tusculum had its first lead of the game at 13-11.
Reliever Luke Maicon worked around a two-out single to get a fly out to end the game.
The TU pitching trio of Ben Randall, Owen Canter and Luke Maicon posted zeros for the final seven innings. Randall went 2.2 innings where he allowed one hit, one walk and posted three strikeouts. Canter pitched 3.2 strong innings allowing a hit, two walks and four strikeouts. Maicon pitched the final 1.1 innings to secure the win to improve to 3-1 on the season.
UVA Wise reliever Ryan Whitson (2-2) pitched the final 5.2 innings for the Cavs as he suffered the loss.
The two teams combined for 31 runners left on base (UVA Wise 18, Tusculum 13).
Game 2: Tusculum 16, UVA Wise 1
Tusculum used an eight-run, fifth inning to lift the Pioneers to a 16-1 win over UVA Wise to complete the weekend sweep.
Cage led Tusculum at the plate with his 3-for-5 effort with four RBI and a home run. Ortega went 2-for-2 with three RBI and a home run, while Caleb Mulcahy added a pair of hits, scored three times and drove in four RBI with a double and a homer.
Ortega opened the game with his home run on the fifth pitch of the contest as TU took a 1-0 lead.
Tusculum tacked on two more runs in the second frame, with both scoring on Ortega’s two-out, two-run single.
UVA Wise plated a run in the bottom of the third to make it a 3-1 game.
The Pioneers blew the game wide open in the fifth when 15 batters went to the plate to score eight runs on six hits including a two-run double by Miksa and a two-run homer off the bat of Nick Satterly, his fourth home run this month.
Tusculum added five more scores in the seventh, including a two-run homer by Cage and a three-run blast by Mulcahy.
Pedante (3-5) went six innings, allowed one run on six hits, four walks and six strikeouts in his 102-pitch performance. Cooper Emery pitched the seventh inning to finish off the game.
Goins had a solid weekend as he went 8-for-11 against the Cavaliers with seven RBI and three home runs.
Tusculum wraps up its five-game road swing on Tuesday with a non-conference battle with Carson-Newman at the Silver Diamond Complex in Jefferson City.
