YOUNG HARRIS, Ga. — Tusculum University scored four times in the top of the ninth as the Pioneers defeated eighth-ranked Young Harris College 7-5 Tuesday afternoon at Zell Miller Field.
The Pioneers (14-20) got at a base hit from every starter including Jude Morton‘s two-run double to spark the ninth inning for the visitors.
TU third-baseman Max Schmarder extended a pair of streaks as he went 1-for-4 with a walk. He has hit safely in 24 consecutive games which is tied for the fifth-longest in program history matching the 24 in a row set by All-American Christian Rosa in 2008. Schmarder has reached base safely in 29 straight games (8th in TU history).
Tusculum records its fourth consecutive win and have been victorious in six of its last eight outings. The win over the No. 8 Mountain Lions (24-10) marks TU’s first victory over a top-10 team since 2018 when the Pioneers took two of three at home against No. 9 Wingate. It also marked Tusculum’s first road victory at a top-10 foe since 2008 at No. 6 Mount Olive.
Young Harris jumped out to a 2-0 lead, plating a run in the second and third innings. In the second, YHC took advantage of three walks and got a sacrifice fly from Jack Enrico to take a 1-0 lead. In the third, Luke Hatcher belted a solo home run to make it 2-0.
Meanwhile, YHC starter Drew Howard was pitching a gem as he retired the side in order through the first three innings.
Tusculum mounted a two-out rally in the fourth as Max Schmarder drew a walk and moved to second on Ben Scartz‘s base hit. Schmarder would score on Sawyer Pace‘s RBI single to trim the deficit to 2-1.
Young Harris got the run back in the bottom of the fifth when Enrico recorded his second RBI of the game with his leadoff homer to right field to extend the lead to 3-1.
In the Tusculum sixth, Caleb Webster led off with his team-leading 15th double of the season. He moved to third on Ty Smith‘s base hit up the middle to put runners on the corners. Schmarder stepped in and pulled a double to the left field corner to drive in Webster and move Smith to third. After a YHC pitching change, Scartz was hit by a pitch to load the bases. TU would ground into a double play but Smith was able to score and tie the game at 3-3.
TU reliever Caid Sanders, who took over the fifth, retired the side in order in the sixth before being relieved by Brice Anders. Anders would pick up where Sanders left off and blanked the Mountain Lions in the seventh and eighth innings.
With the score tied 3-3 head to the ninth, Pace would draw a one-out walk and moved to third on Ryan Ortega‘s double. Pinch-hitter Omar Carreras was hit by a pitch to load the bases to set the table to Morton. Morton would double down the right-field line to drive in Pace and Ortega as Tusculum took its first lead of the day at 5-3.
Anthony Cobb would single to left to bring home Carreras to up the lead to 6-3. Webster would reach base for a third time in the game when he was hit by a pitch for a team-leading 10th of the year to load the bases again. Smith would lift a sacrifice fly to left to drive in Morton with an insurance run and a 7-3 lead.
In the bottom of the ninth, Young Harris got its first three batters aboard against TU closer Cooper Emery. Enrico and Carlos Martans recorded back-to-back sacrifice flies to cut into the Tusculum lead at 7-5. But Emery would get a ground out to end the game.
Anders (2-6) picked up the win in relief as he worked around two walks in his 22-pitch performance. Sanders tossed a dozen pitches as he retired all six Mountain Lions he would face on the afternoon.
Young Harris reliever Brady Caloway (2-2) suffered the loss as he pitched the final four innings where he allowed four runs on three hits, one walk and one strikeout.
Tusculum will face its second straight nationally-ranked when the Pioneers travel to ninth-ranked Catawba for a three-game South Atlantic Conference series this weekend. The series begins with Friday’s 6 p.m. contest in Salisbury, North Carolina.
