GREENEVILLE, Tenn. — Steve Scarfone went 2-for-4 with three RBI including a homer in the opener, while Walker Pedante and Aidan Sproles combined on a two-hit shutout in the nightcap as the Tusculum baseball team swept a non-conference doubleheader over Charleston (W.Va.) Sunday afternoon at Eastman Credit Union Field & Pioneer Park.
Tusculum (2-2) scored five runs in the bottom of the eighth to rally to a 9-5 win in Sunday’s first game. TU posted three runs each in the first two frames en route to a 6-0 victory in the second contest to complete the sweep.
The Pioneers and Golden Eagles (0-4) will wrap up the four-game series with Monday’s 12 p.m. doubleheader at ECU Field.
Game 1: Tusculum 9, Charleston 5
Tusculum sent 11 batters to the plate and scored five runs in the bottom of the eighth inning as the Pioneers tallied a 9-5 come-from-behind win over Charleston.
Trailing 5-4 heading to the TU eighth, Kolby Watson led off with a single while Jake Absher and Evan Cage drew back-to-back walks to load the bases. Evan Goins tied the game with his RBI walk. Scarfone drove in the eventual game-winning run with his base hit as TU led 6-5. Caden Rector followed with a two-run single and Landon Dockery, who pinch ran earlier in the frame, came through with a RBI single to cap the frame.
In the top of the ninth inning with one out, the Golden Eagles drew three walks to load the bases. With the game-tying run coming to the plate, TU closer Cooper Emery got a strikeout and a flyout to end the game and record his first save of the season.
Tusculum jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning thanks to Jake Absher‘s two-run triple. Charleston tied the game in the second with a pair of runs as the Golden Eagles put pressure on the Tusculum defense.
Tusculum regained the lead with a tally in the third on Scarfone’s solo blast to right field.
Charleston tied the game again at 3-3 with a run in the fifth. In the bottom of the sixth, Scarfone answered, again, this time with his RBI ground as the Pioneers went up 4-3.
But the Golden Eagles responded with a run in the seventh and a go-ahead score in the eighth as UC led 5-4.
Each team accounted for nine hits in the game while the Pioneers committed a pair of errors.
Ryan Ortega finished with two hits for Tusculum, while Andrew Kobryn recorded a 3-for-4 effort for the Golden Eagles.
TU reliever Ayden Moore (1-0) picked up the win for the Pioneers as he scattered three hits, one run and notched a pair of strikeouts.
UC reliever Kyle Evenhus (0-1) suffered the loss for the Golden Eagles.
Game 2: Tusculum 6, Charleston 0
Pedante pitched a two-hit shutout over his 4.1 innings of work, Sproles blanked the Golden Eagles the rest of the way in Tusculum’s 6-0 victory.
Pedante worked around four walks with his six strikeouts and a hit-batter in his 88-pitch performance.
Sproles, a rookie from Johnson City, pitched 2.2 shutout innings of relief in his collegiate debut as he recorded three strikeouts.
With Tusculum up 6-0, Charleston loaded the bases with one out in the fifth thanks to a pair of walks and a TU fielding error. The Pioneers got out of the jam when Dockery turned in a double play as he snagged a fly out down the left field line and threw a laser to catcher Jack Gagen at home plate, who tagged out the runner to preserve the shutout.
Tusculum scored three times in the first thanks to Watson’s RBI single and a Ryan Ortega run-scoring hit. Keygan Miksa added a sacrifice fly in the second and Absher drove in his second run of the game with his bases-loaded walk as TU led 6-0.
