GREENEVILLE, Tenn. — Young Harris scored seven times in the top of the ninth inning to break a 9-9 tie as the 19th-ranked Mountain Lions posted a 16-9 non-conference win over Tusculum Wednesday afternoon at Eastman Credit Union Field.
Young Harris (34-13) sent 10 batters to the plate and took advantage of four hits including a three-run homer by Kade Smallwood to complete the season sweep over the Pioneers (16-30).
The Mountain Lions overcame an early 6-1 deficit, utilizing a six-run, fourth inning to take a 7-6 lead. Tusculum regained the lead with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth and another in the sixth to up 9-7. But YHC would tie the game in the seventh and blew the game open in the ninth.
Young Harris reliever Austin Ritchie pitched three shutout innings with three strikeouts heading down the stretch to improve his record to 3-1 on the season.
Tusculum out-hit Young Harris by an 18-12 margin led by the career day of graduate student Julian Jennings who collected his first three collegiate hits of his career in a 3-for-5 effort including a two-run homer for his first ever hit.
TU graduate student Connor Jurek also went 3-for-5 in his final game at Pioneer Park, while senior Justin Millsaps had a three-hit day in his home finale.
Tusculum got on the scoreboard first in the opening frame when Jurek led off with a walk and later scored on Caleb Mulcahy‘s one-out double.
Young Harris tied the game at 1-1 in the second when Jackson Morgan was hit by a pitch, moved to third on Jack Enrico’s single up the middle that ricocheted off second base. Morgan would score on Jonny Smith’s sacrifice fly.
Tusculum answered with three runs in the bottom of the second thanks to RBI singles from Jurek, Keygan Miksa and Jake Absher as the Pioneers led 4-1.
In the bottom of the third, Millsaps led off with a single and scored on Jennings’ towering homer to left for his first collegiate hit of his career as Tusculum upped its advantage to 6-1.
The Mountain Lions would bat around in the fourth as Morgan tripled off the wall in center and later scored on a fielder’s choice by Jayden Carbonell-Smith. Jonny Smith doubled to bring in two runs, Carlos Martans followed with a RBI single and Keypher Contreras belted a two-run homer to center for his team-leading 17th home run as YHC led 7-6.
But in the bottom of the fourth, Jurek and Ryan Ortega led off with back-to-back singles. Absher bunted them into scoring position and Millsaps would come through with a two-out single to drive in Jurek with the tying run. Jennings followed with his second hit, a RBI single to left to score Ortega with the go-ahead run as Tusculum led 8-7.
The Mountain Lions mounted a threat in the fifth as they loaded the bases with two outs. But reliever Drew Sliwinski got out of the jam when Millsaps took a slow ground ball at first base and under-handed it to Sliwinski running over to cover the bag, just in time for the final out of the inning.
Tusculum scored its ninth run of the game in the bottom of the sixth as Millsaps hit a two-out single, moved to second on a wild pitch and scored on Jennings’ RBI double to right as TU led 9-7.
Young Harris would tie the score at 9-9 in the seventh as Jeo Hernandez hit a two-out double down the left field line to drive in a pair of runs.
The score would remain 9-9 until the ninth as Morgan led off with his fourth hit of the afternoon and moved to second when Jack Enrico was hit by a pitch. After pop up on an attempted bunt, Jonny Smith drew a walk to load the bases. Hernandez followed with a RBI single and Martans made it a 12-9 game with his two-run single. Drew Bray made it 13-9 with his sacrifice fly to deep center. After Contreras drew a walk, Smallwood belted his 17th homer of the season to right field, a three-run shot for a 16-9 score.
Morgan led all batters with his 4-for-5 performance while scoring three times. Enrico went 1-for-1, drew three walks and scored three times.
For Tusculum, Mulcahy, Nick Satterly and Adrian Salas all posted two-hit games in the loss.
TU utilized 11 pitchers on Wednesday with Sliwinski, Payne Ladd and Luke Maicon each tossing a shutout inning.
The Pioneers will close out the regular season with an important three-game series at Coker University this weekend. Tusculum is locked in a tie for the eighth and final postseason spot for next week’s South Atlantic Conference Tournament.
TU is tied with Anderson with identical 10-20 league marks. If the Pioneers can win the series at Coker, coupled with Anderson losing its series at Wingate, Tusculum would claim the eighth seed for the conference postseason. The Trojans own the tie-breaker with the Pioneers. Coker could also sneak into the postseason as they are one-game behind Tusculum and Anderson.
