Tusculum Tops Florida Southern In Baseball Regional Opener

TAMPA --- The Tusculum College baseball team got a pair of stellar pitching performances and timely hitting as the second-seeded Pioneers defeated No. 5 seed Florida Southern College 4-1 Thursday afternoon in day one action of the 2007 NCAA Division II South Regional. The six-team, double-elimination tournament is being hosted by the University of Tampa.

Tusculum (49-12) will face the winner between Carson-Newman and Florida Gulf Coast, Friday night at 7 p.m. at the UT Baseball Field. Florida Southern (No. 17 in NCAA II) will face sixth-seeded Stillman College in an elimination game on Friday at 11 a.m.

Junior C.J. Hillyer (Abington, Mass.) pitched six strong innings, while Knoxville, Tenn. senior Ben Swaggerty tossed the final three, including seven strikeouts to post his fifth save of the year. Hillyer (9-1) scattered six hits and struck out two as he held the Mocs (40-15) scoreless through six innings.

"I'm very proud of the effort our pitchers gave us today," said Tusculum head coach Doug Jones. "C.J. gutted it out for us with a very sore elbow and Ben came in and provided a senior performance when we needed it the most."

Tusculum got on the board in the first inning as junior Christian Rosa (Toa Baja, Puerto Rico) blasted a solo shot over the center field fence to give the Pioneers a 1-0 lead. TC added another run in the third when Carlos Rivera (Leesburg, Va.) and Rosa reached on consecutive, one-out singles. Junior Maikol Gonzalez (Maracaibo, Venezuela) struck out as Rivera and Rosa pulled a double-steal. The throw to third by catcher David Golliner sailed high, allowing Rivera to trot in with the second run. For Golliner, it was his first error this season in over 160 total chances.

The score remained that way as Hillyer and FSC starter Dan Albritton kept each team at bay. TC mounted a serious threat in the fourth as the Pioneers loaded the bases with two outs, but Albritton got Rivera to fly out to end the inning.

In the sixth, the Mocs got a pair of one-out singles by Bryan Brown and Golliner. With runners at the corners and FSC clean-up batter Fred Popp at the plate, Hillyer got out of the inning with a ground-ball double play, the second twin-killing of the day for the Pioneers.

Tusculum added two insurance runs in the eighth inning as Matt Webb (Duluth, Ga.) led off with a single, moved to second on a Dustin Morrow (Lexington, Ky.) bunt and scored on Paul Finger's 13th double of the season. Finger (Lincolnton, N.C.) would score himself later in the inning on a RBI single by Aaron Hudgins (Kingsport, Tenn.).

Florida Southern mounted a rally in the ninth as Popp led off with a single and moved to second on a Kyle Patrick walk. The Mocs plated a run thanks to Will Cherry's RBI single, but Swaggerty struck out the side in the ninth to preserve the victory.

"We hit the ball very hard against a very good pitcher today," added Jones. "We got some timely hitting and I'm very pleased with the effort our team put on the field today."

Tusculum finished with nine hits, including two-hit performances by Rivera, Rosa and Hudgins. Gonzalez, the South Region Player of the Year, was making his first start in over a month as he went 1-for-4. Golliner and Popp paced the Mocs' offensive attack with two hits each.

This marks the sixth time Tusculum and Florida Southern have met and third straight in the NCAA Regional, but today is the first win by the Pioneers over the nine-time national champions.

#10 Tusculum 4, #17 Florida Southern 1 (05/17/07 at Tampa, Fla.)
NCAA Division II South Regional (1st Round Game)
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Florida Southern.... 000 000 001 - 1 8 1 (40-15)
Tusculum............ 101 000 02X - 4 9 1 (49-12)
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E - Golliner; Paul Finger. DP - Tusculum 2. LOB - FL Southern 8; Tusculum
9. 2B - Paul Finger(13). HR - Chrisi Rosa(9). SH - Dustin Morrow; Paul
Finger. SB Robbie Shields(3); Carlos Rivera(22); Christian Rosa(27); Aaron
Hudgins(10).

Pitchers: Florida Southern - Dan Albritton and David Golliner. Tusculum -
C.J. Hillyer; Ben Swaggerty(7) and Marc Hyndsman
Win-C.J. Hillyer(9-1) Save-Ben Swaggerty(5) Loss-Albritton(9-3) T-2:15
A-218

Florida Gulf Coast 10, Carson-Newman 2

TAMPA, Fla.-- The Carson-Newman Eagles fell behind early and could only manage a pair of runs in the eighth inning as fourth-seeded Florida Gulf Coast defeated the Eagles, 10-2 in the opening round of the NCAA Division II South Regional.

Carson-Newman (36-19) held Florida Gulf Coast scoreless until the second inning when Gulf Coast first baseman hit a two-RBI double of C-N starter Matt Teague (7-2) and advanced to third on a throwing error for a 2-0 Gulf Coast lead.

The Eagles had opportunities after twice getting runners on first and third in the first and fifth innings, but Gulf Coast starter Casey Coleman managed to get Brandon Burchfield in a rundown in the first inning and forced a groundout by Langdon Potts and a foul out by Jonathan McMahon to end the Eagle threat in the fifth.

Carson-Newman ended their scoring drought in the eighth inning when Burchfield walked and Adam Kefauver hit a single to put runners at first and second with one out. After Jason Gray was hit by a pitch, Jim Doran laced a two-RBI single to cut Gulf Coast's lead to 6-2.

However, Florida Gulf Coast tacked on four runs on RBI singles from Ozzie Borrell, Derek Mollica, and Jason Peacock to dash any hope of a Carson-Newman comeback.

With the loss, the Eagles drop to the losers bracket and will face top seed Tampa on Friday, May 18 at 3:00 p.m. Tampa defeated Stillman, 5-3 while second seeded Tusculum defeated fifth seed Florida Southern, 4-1 in the early games of the regional.

Florida Gulf Coast 10, Carson-Newman 2 (05/17/07 at Tampa, Florida)
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Florida Gulf Coast.. 020 031 004 - 10 16 2 (41-15)
Carson-Newman....... 000 000 020 - 2 7 2 (36-19)
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Pitchers: Florida Gulf Coast - Casey Coleman; Pete Woodworth(9). Carson-Newman - Matt Teague; Corbin Arial(6); Logan Simmons(7); Chris Gillies(9); Michael Elliott(9). Win-Casey Coleman(6-2) Loss-Matt Teague(7-2) T-2:53 A-193