Tusculum Claims Third Straight SAC Baseball Championship

GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Christian Rosa hit a two-out, two-run, walk-off homer in the bottom of the eighth inning as Tusculum College swept completed a series sweep of Lenoir-Rhyne College to win the 2007 South Atlantic Conference Baseball Championship.

Tusculum (41-10, 18-5 SAC) rallied from a 3-0 deficit in the opener to win 13-3. TC fought back from a 4-1 deficit in the night-cap and overcame a two-hour and 42 minute rain delay to claim the second game 6-4 in eight innings. Tusculum has won 20 consecutive games, while capturing its third straight SAC title.

Rosa had a banner day as he went 5-for-9 with a pair of home runs and seven RBI. Carlos Rivera had the hot bat of the day as he went 8-for-10, including eight consecutive hits spanning the two games.

Game 1: No. 13 Tusculum 13, Lenoir-Rhyne 3
Rivera went 4-for-5 in the opener as he scored four times and drove in the tying run in a five-run fourth inning as TC prevailed 13-3. Tusculum pounded out 15 hits, while starter Kevin Hammons recorded the win to improve his record to 7-1, including 6-0 in league play. Rosa, the reigning SAC Player of the Week, posted a 3-for-5 effort including five RBI.

The Bears (35-15, 12-11 SAC) plated three runs in their first at-bat, including a two-run single by Taylor MacCurdy. Rosa got the Pioneers on the board in third as Rivera led off with a single and scored on Rosa's two-run blast to left center.

Tusculum sent nine batters to the plate in the fourth inning, including Maikol Gonzalez who connected on his 14th triple of the season to drive in the eventual game-winning runs. Gonzalez leads the nation in triples and is now two short of tying the all-time NCAA Division II record.

TC added three more tallies in the fifth and three again in the eight, including two on Dustin Morrow's two-run homer, extending his hitting streak to 21 consecutive games.

L-R starter Chris Henderson (5-1) suffered his first loss of the season as he went three and two-thirds innings.

Game 2: No. 13 Tusculum 6, Lenoir-Rhyne 4 (8 innings)
In one of the most dramatic wins in the history of Tusculum baseball, the night-cap was a thriller. Lenoir-Rhyne jumped out to a 4-0 advantage, including three runs in the second inning.

J.D. Harrison connected on a one-out triple and scored on Derek Pugh's sacrifice fly for the first run of the game. Later in the inning MacCurdy clubbed his third homer of the season with a runner aboard to make the score 3-0. Evan Taylor made it 4-0 in the fourth with his two-out single.

L-R starter Justin Crowell kept the Pioneers at-bay through the first four innings, limiting TC to just three hits and forced the home team to hit into three doubles in the first three innings.

TC cut into the deficit with three runs in the fifth inning, including a RBI single by Rivera and a two-run double off the bat of Gonzalez.

The score was 4-3 in the middle of the sixth when the skies opened up forcing the game into a lengthy rain delay. When play resumed almost three hours later, Aaron Porter led off with an infield single, moved to second on a bunt and scored on Rivera's two-out single to tie the game at 4-4.

Tusculum had an opportunity to win the game in the seventh, but L-R reliever Josh Keller got out of bases-loaded jam with a groundout to end the threat. The Bears had a golden opportunity to retake the lead in the eighth as Pugh led off with a single, moved into scoring position on a bunt. With one away, Dallas Tarleton singled through the left side, but Pugh was thrown out at home by outfielder Andrew Winslow. TC reliever Ben Swaggerty, who came aboard to pitch against L-R in the sixth before the rains came, recorded a strikeout to end the threat.

In the bottom of the eighth, Aaron Hudgins led off with a single and moved to second on a passed ball. L-R relief pitcher Jesse Jordan struck out Winslow and got Rivera to ground out. In a driving rain, Rosa took a 2-2 pitch over the right field wall as the Pioneers celebrated the win at its league championship.

Swaggerty improved his record 5-0 as he scattered two hits and struck out four in his three innings of work. Keller suffered the loss to fall to 2-4.

Lenoir-Rhyne out-hit the Pioneers 11-9 in the game, including two hits each MacCurdy, Tarleton, Taylor and Pugh.

Tusculum was paced by Rivera's second 4-for-5 effort of the day, while Rosa finished with a pair of hits. Morrow went 0-for-3 on the day to send his hitting streak at 21.

Both teams will be in action again next week at the 2007 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Tournament in Greenville. S.C. Official tournament pairings will be announced by the league office.