GREENEVILLE, Tenn. — Johnny Smith went 2-for-5 including a key two-run homer to lead seventh-ranked Young Harris to a 12-5 win over Tusculum Wednesday afternoon at Pioneer Park.
The Mountain Lions (35-12) record their fifth straight win and 11th victory in their last 12. YHC also avenges a 7-5 loss to the Pioneers (17-29), who drop their fifth in a row.
Tusculum out-hit Young Harris 14-13 as Sawyer Pace, Ryan Ortega, Jude Morton and Jayden Singleton had two hits each. But the Pioneers committed five errors and left 15 runners on base.
TU plated a run in the first inning when Pace led off with a double and later scored on Ty Smith‘s sacrifice fly. Young Harris tied the game in the second on Kyle Chatham’s two-out RBI single.
Tusculum regained the lead in the fourth on Ortega’s two-out, two-run single as the Pioneers went up 3-1.
The Mountain Lions scored four runs in the fifth to take the lead highlighted by Smith’s two-run blast, his seventh homer of the year. YHC tacked out four more runs in the sixth to take a 9-3 lead.
Young Harris added a run in the seventh and two unearned runs in the ninth to put the game out of reach.
Chatham led the visitors with his 3-for-5 performance which included three runs and a RBI.
Reliever Tyson Harmon (1-0) recorded the victory for Young Harris, while TU relief pitcher Aiden Tipton (1-3) suffered the loss.
Tusculum will close out the season this weekend hosting Coker for a South Atlantic Conference series at Pioneer Park. The series begins on Sunday with a 3 p.m. doubleheader and wrap up on Monday with a 1 p.m. contest.
