GREENEVILLE, Tenn. — Zach Wilson went 4-for-5 with a double and scored two runs to lead the Tusculum University baseball team to a 9-4 win over King University Tuesday night at Pioneer Park.
Nine different Pioneers recorded a hit including Luis Reyes who posted a pair of singles as Tusculum (8-7) finished the game with 13 hits.
The Tornado (5-11) accounted for nine hits in the contest with catcher Nathan Borchardt leading the way with his 3-for-5 effort.
Tusculum jumped out to an 8-1 lead through three innings, scoring three times in the first, four in the second and one in the third. King plated a run each in the second, fourth, sixth and seventh frames.
The two teams utilized their bullpens as a combined 11 pitchers saw action on Tuesday. Seth Willis (1-1) pitched three innings in a scheduled start as he posted five strikeouts in his three innings of work. He scattered three hits, allowed a run with zero walks.
The Pioneers sent nine batters to the plate in the first inning as Wilson and Kayl Ratliff tallied RBI singles. In the TU second, four runs crossed the dish thanks to RBI singles from Ben Scartz, Murphy Flood and Blaze McCauley, along with a Ratliff sacrifice fly for his second RBI of the contest.
For King, Garret Huffman posted a two-out RBI single in the second inning and Andrew Bryant drove in a run with his fly out in the fourth frame. Bryant accounted for his second RBI of the game with his one-out single in the sixth and Borchardt tallied a RBI single in the seventh to round out the scoring for the game.
Zane Keener led off the game with his fourth double of the season to extend his hitting streak to nine in a row. Keener also extended his streak of reaching base safely to 17 consecutive games, while Flood has reached base safely in all 15 games this year.
Tusculum freshman Mason Huffstickler pitched in a season-high three innings on Tuesday as he matched a season-best five strikeouts for a second time this year. Scout Martin pitched in the seventh inning, while Trejen-Fox Birdwell and Jake McKenna blanked the Tornado in the eighth and ninth innings, respectively.
Tusculum wraps up tough stretch where the Pioneers played four games in three days. TU returns to action on Friday when they make the short trip to Jefferson City to face Carson-Newman to begin a three-game South Atlantic Conference against the Eagles. The series begins with Friday’s 2 p.m. opener, followed by Saturday’s 12 p.m. doubleheader at the Silver Diamond Complex.
Tusculum and Carson-Newman met earlier this month as TU prevailed 4-2 in a non-conference match-up in Greeneville.
