Tusculum Advances To Food Lion SAC Baseball Tournament Championship

GREENVILLE, S.C. - Top-seeded Tusculum College got their third-straight solid pitching outing, this time from Raymond Ruggles as the Pioneers defeated the second-seed Carson-Newman 5-1 on Saturday evening at the Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Tournament in Greenville S.C.

Tusculum (44-10) advances to the championship game tomorrow afternoon at 1:00 p.m. at Municipal Stadium. Carson-Newman (32-18) will now face Wingate in an elimination game at 9:30 a.m. at Municipal Stadium.

Ruggles (7-3) pitched seven strong innings, allowing only one run on five hits while striking out five. The loss was charged to Eagle starter Justin Higdon (0-3)

Tusculum, the 10th-ranked team in the nation, struck for a run in the first to take a 1-0 lead. Carlos Rivera drew a leadoff walk and Christian Rosa reached after being hit-by-a-pitch. Dustin Morrow hit a would-be double-play ball to third that the second baseman Langdon Potts threw wide of first, allowing Rivera to score from second.

In the second the Pioneers moved out to a 3-0 lead. Aaron Porter singled and Aaron Hudgins delivered a base-hit to right to put runners at first and second with one out. After Eric Barclay walked to load the bases, Rivera lined a double into left-center to plate Porter and Hudgins.

In the third Joe Kugler and Jonathan collected base-hits for Carson-Newman. With the bases loaded and two outs, Ruggles struck out Nick Achberger to get out of the jam.

In the Eagle sixth, Landgon Potts singled and Achberger followed with a double to left. Adam Kefauver drove in Potts from third with a groundout to make it a two-run game at 3-1.

In the sixth for Tusculum, Paul Finger led off with a double and later scored on an RBI bloop single to left by Aaron Hudgins, giving the Pioneers a 4-1 lead.

Tusculum scored their final run of the evening in the eighth when pinch-hitter Maikol Gonzalez drove in a run with a double to right-center.

Rivera was 1-for-3 with a run scored and two runs batted in to lead the Pioneers. Potts went 2-for-3 with a run scored to lead Carson-Newman offensively.

Wingate 6, Catawba 2

GREENVILLE, S.C. - Shaughn Neal drove in two runs with a single up the middle in the sixth inning to break a 2-2 tie as the sixth-seeded Wingate defeated third-seeded Catawba 6-2 on Saturday afternoon at the Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Tournament.

Wingate (24-29) will face the loser of the Tusculum/Carson-Newman game on Sunday morning at 9:30 a.m. Catawba (31-18) is now eliminated from tournament play.

Wingate would threaten to crack the scoreboard first by loading the bases with one out in the second. However, Catawba starter Tim Smith (7-6) got Michael Taylor to strike out and got a force out at second to work out of the jam.

The Bulldogs would take the lead at 2-0 in the third. Shaughn Neal singled and Josh Benton followed with a groundball that first baseman Zach Evan threw towards second to get the lead runner. However, Indian shortstop Bubba Morris dropped the ball, allowing Neal to advance to third. Catcher Blair Troutman followed with a double to left past a diving Craig Lyerly, plating Neal with the first run. Michael Parker would then drive in a run with a sacrifice fly, giving Wingate a two-run lead.

Catawba would score a run in the fourth with two outs to cut the lead to 2-1. David Thomas lined a triple into the gap in right-center and would score on a RBI single by Evans.

In the Wingate fifth, Neal drew a leadoff walk and would later follow with a two-out single. After Logan Beasley walked to load the bases, Smith struck out Spencer Robinson looking on a 3-2 pitch to end the threat.

Catawba tied the game in the sixth at 2-2. David Thomas singled to left to plate Ryan Query from third.

In the Bulldog sixth, Aaron Knowles recorded on a strange base-hit on a ball that was popped fall but blew back into play and fell in fair territory. Pinch-hitter Grayson Tanner reached on an error and Nick Siega-Riz advanced both runners with a sacrifice bunt. Neal drove would drive in two run with a single up the middle, the second run coming on a bang-bang play at home, giving Wingate a 4-2 lead.

Wingate would score to runs in the eighth to record the four-run victory.

Neal finished 2-for-3 with two runs scored and two RBIs while Benton finished 2-for-5 with two runs scored and a RBI. Benton also recorded the victory in relief, working 1.2 innings to move his record to 3-2.

Thomas led Catawba offensively with a 2-for-4 performance with a run scored an a run batted in.

Carson-Newman 5, Catawba 4

GREENVILLE, S.C. - Carson-Newman scored four runs in the top of the eighth inning to take the lead and eventually hold off a late Catawba rally to earn the 5-4 victory at the Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Tournament on Saturday afternoon in Greenville, S.C.

The second-seeded Eagles (32-17) advance to play top-seed Tusculum tonight at 8:00 p.m. while the third-seed Indians (31-17) will face Wingate in an elimination game today at 3:30 p.m.

Carson-Newman jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first. Langdon Potts notched a one-out single and Nick Achberger followed with a double to right, moving Potts over to third. Designated hitter Adam Keafauver drove Potts in with an RBI groundout

In the Indian first, Catawba would take the lead at 2-1. First-Team All-SAC selection Jerry Sands crushed a 3-2 pitch off Eagle starter Cole Draughn for a two-run homerun, his 20th of the season.

Catawba threatened to extend their lead in the third, loading the bases with only one out. However, Draughn struck out a batter and got Kevin McMillan to ground at to Achberger to third to end the threat.

In the Indian fourth, left fielder Lee Page drove in a run with a triple into the gap in right-center to extend the Catawba lead to 3-1.

In the Eagle eighth, Carson-Newman would load the bases with nobody out. Achberger would lace a two-run double down the line in right to tie the game 3-3. With runners at second and third and one out, Jason Gray hit a one-hop liner to Chad Baker at second whose throw home was low, allowing Langdon Potts to score the go-ahead run. Derek Long would drive in an insurance run with a single to center.

In the Catawba ninth, Baker led off with a single, advanced to third on a wild pitch, and scored on a RBI single by Zach Evans. With the tying and winning runs on first and second, Eagle reliever Steve Cishek got Brett Hatley to fly out to left to end the game, giving Carson-Newman the one-run victory.

Achberger went 2-for-5 with two RBIs to lead Carson-Newman at the plate. Thomas went 3-for-4 to lead Catawba offensively.

Eagle reliever Corbin Arial (2-1) received the victory while Indian starter Blake Kettner (3-6) took the loss. Cishek pitched two innings to record his third save of the season.