Visiting Tusculum University (15-23) took the lead in the second inning and never let up in gaining a 7-2 revenge victory over Lee University at Larry Carpenter Stadium on Tuesday evening. The Flames had defeated the Pioneers 16-2 in Greeneville on March 25th.
Coach Mark Brew will regroup his team (22-16) and get ready for an important three-game series at Valdosta State University on Friday and Saturday. The Blazers are 16-7 in GSC play and hold down second place while the Flames are 14-10.
They have moved up to the fifth spot in the standings.
In the second inning the Pioneers jumped on top when Ryan Ortega walked, and Ty Smith homered over the leftfield wall. The margin reached 3-0 in the third on a solo homerun by Omar Carreras. He finished the contest with two of Tusculum’s 11 hits.
The Flames put three singles together in the bottom of the same inning and made it a 3-1 game. Luke Collier started the rally with his hit. Cooper Doughman followed with a one-base knock and Brock Sisson collected a RBI with a solid hit. The frame ended when Malachi Cloud flew out to center.
In the sixth the Pioneers added a single run to push the lead to 4-1. Jayden Singleton was hit by a pitch and later scored on Caleb Webster’s base hit. Lee had not posted a hit since the third inning until Cloud hit a long homerun in the bottom of the sixth to cut the lead to 4-2.
Tusculum put the game out of reach in the eighth. Luis Reyes was hit by a pitch. Caleb Mulcahy singled and Reyes scored on a two-base hit by Avery Collins. Sawyer Pace came up with the final big blow of the contest when his double scored Mulcahy and Collins, making the final tally read 7-2.
Besides Sisson and Cloud collecting the hits and RBI, Collier and Doughman were the only other Flames to get a base hit in the loss. Cloud reached on an error and stole two bases. Josiah Miller walked and stole a base while Ryan Valdes picked up a free pass and Ashton Simmons was hit by a pitch. Six Lee runners were left on base and 10 struck out against five Pioneer pitchers.
Cooper Emery was the Tusculum starter and pitched two innings of hitless ball. He walked one and struck out two. The last two Pioneers called on to take the mound worked three innings. Bruce Anders allowed a free pass but no hits while Caid Sanders (2-2) was called on for the final two frames. He was perfect and fanned three batters. The right-hander got credit for the victory.
Lee used six pitchers. Dylan Van Meeteren (2-4) started and hurled two innings. He allowed two earned runs, walked three and struck out one and charged with the defeat. Matthew Delph followed for three innings and surrendered four hits and an earned run, recording four strikeouts. The last two Flames to work were impressive. David White pitched 2/3 of an inning. He allowed a hit, no runs and struck out one. Jax Howard finished the evening and the ninth for Lee. The big right-hander allowed a hit and a walk but he struck out the side.
Coach Mark Brew’s thoughts:
“Give Tusculum credit. They came out and pressured us early and got the lead. They put the big two-strike, two-out swing in the 8th to push the lead to five. Our bullpen did a good job keeping us within reach, but we didn’t swing it well and chased too many poor pitches. We just didn’t play a winning brand of baseball tonight and that’s disappointing considering how we’ve been playing as of late. It is time to turn the page to a really good Valdosta team. It will be a tough series on the road and we need show up with a little more fight at the plate.”