Lincoln Memorial, Newberry, Wingate Post Wins In Food Lion SAC Baseball Tournament

FOREST CITY, N.C. -- A seven-run fifth inning erased a 3-0 deficit and propelled Lincoln Memorial University to an 8-6 victory over Tusculum College in the third game of the 2011 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Baseball Tournament Wednesday night at McNair Field.

The Railsplitters (29-20) advance to play Wingate in a winners bracket game Thursday night at 7:30 p.m., while the Pioneers (31-15) will look to stave off elimination when they face Newberry at 3:45 p.m. Thursday afternoon.

LMU sent 12 batters to the plate and scored seven runs on seven hits, aided by two costly Tusculum errors that resulted in five of the runs being unearned. The Pioneers mounted a late rally and had the tying run at second base in the ninth inning before Railsplitter reliever Steven Starbird (Rutledge, Tenn.) came up with a strikeout to end the game and earn the save.

All nine Railsplitters finished with at least one hit in the contest, with Nolan Woody (Chattanooga, Tenn.) going 2-for-4 and Cody Baker (Knoxville, Tenn.) 2-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored. The Pioneers were led by Sean Cotten (Mooresville, N.C.) who was 2-for-5 with two doubles and two runs scored along with a stolen base. Rolondo Bonner (Garner, N.C.) and Branfy Arias (La Romana, D.R.) also went 2-for-5 for the Pioneers as part of a 10-hit attack.

Andy Fennell (Knoxville, Tenn.) worked 6 1/3 innings for the Railsplitters to earn the win, improving to 5-1 as he gave up six hits and four earned runs while walking four and striking out five over 127 pitches. Starbird threw the final 2 2/3 innings for the save, striking out three.

Tusculum took a 1-0 lead in the second as Trey Drewery (Vale, N.C.) led off with a single and came home on a two-out double down the line in left by Arias. The Pioneers added two more runs in the third on an RBI groundout by Cody Coffman (Cape Coral, Fla.) and a sacrifice fly from Matt Henriksen (Hingham, Mass) for a 3-0 lead.

Pioneer starter Craig Goodman (Clearwater, Fla.) held the Railsplitters to one hit through four innings, but with one out in the fifth the LMU bats came to life as Woody singled up the middle and Joseph Horsley followed with his third home run of the season to deep left to cut the Tusculum lead to 3-2.

Back-to-back errors by the Pioneers kept the inning alive, and consecutive singles by Cody Pack (Andersonville, Tenn.) and John Couch (Bonnyman, Ky.) pushed LMU ahead 4-3. The Railsplitters added three more runs in the frame on an RBI double by Gelson Perez (Gurabo, P.R.), a sacrifice fly by Eric Kitts (Blaine, Tenn.) and an infield single by Deaun Williams (Beech Grove, Ind.) to take a 7-3 lead.

Tusculum cut the deficit to 7-4 in the seventh on a pinch-hit RBI single by Aaron Guinn (Norris, Tenn.) but LMU regained their four-run lead in the bottom of the inning on an RBI infield single by Baker.

In the ninth, the Pioneers pulled within 8-5 as Cotten led off the inning with a double against Starbird and scored on a single up the middle by Coffman. Tusculum loaded the bases with one out, and scored on a groundout by Payden Houser (Lincolnton, N.C.) to cut the LMU lead to 8-6. However, Starbird fanned Arias on a 2-2 pitch to close the game.

Goodman fell to 7-4 after allowing seven runs (two earned) on six hits and two walks over 4 1/3 innings, while striking out five. Michael Franklin (Kings Mountain, N.C..) followed with an inning of scoreless relief and Billy Sivyer (Knoxville, Tenn.) closed out the game on the mound for the Pioneers by tossing 2 2/3 innings of two-hit ball with three strikeouts.

Newberry 4, Catawba 2

FOREST CITY, N.C. -- Mario Rojas scattered three hits over 7 1/3 innings and Evan Darr hit a two-run home run as sixth-seeded Newberry College upset top-seeded Catawba College 4-2 in the opening game of the 2011 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Baseball Tournament at McNair Field Wednesday afternoon.

Rojas (Miami, Fla.) worked out of jams in the fifth and seventh innings to improve to 5-2 this season, and Tyler Sturkie (West Columbia, S.C.) escaped an eighth-inning threat en route to his seventh save of the season for the Wolves (23-25), who will play Thursday at 3:45 p.m. against Tusculum.

The Catawba Indians (36-9) left 10 runners on base as their 10-game winning streak came to an end. Catawba will play an elimination game at noon Thursday against Carson-Newman.

SAC Pitcher of the Year Nick Lomascolo (Mooresville, N.C.) took the loss for the Indians, settling down after allowing four runs in the first three innings to retire 17 of the Wolves' final 18 batters, including 12 in a row to finish the game.

Newberry finished with just three hits and had just six baserunners against Lomascolo (8-2), but made the most of their opportunities to come away with the victory. In addition to Darr's two-run home run, Sanchez Gartman (Newberry, S.C.) had a tiebreaking two-run double in the third inning after Lomascolo issued back-to-back walks with two outs.

The Indians took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first when SAC Freshman of the Year Chris Dula (Troutman, N.C.) launched a solo home run down the left-field line, his eighth round-tripper of the season.

The Wolves responded in the top half of the second as Jovan Rohena doubled with two outs and scored as Darr drove a 2-1 pitch over the wall in left for his second home run of the season and a 2-1 lead.

Catawba tied the game in the bottom of the frame, but missed out on a chance for a big inning. The Indians loaded the bases with nobody out as Rojas hit back-to-back batters and followed with a walk. Blake Houston (Mt. Ulla, N.C.) grounded into a fielder's choice to knock in John Neese (Summerfield, N.C.) with the tying run, but Rojas induced a 6-4-3 double play to escape with no further damage.

In the third, Lomascolo quickly dispatched of the first two batters but walked John Fogarile (New York, N.Y.) and Chris Love (Columbia, S.C.) to put two runners on base. Gartman came through with a double to the wall in deep right-center to bring home Fogarile and Love for a 4-2 Newberry lead.

Rojas worked around a one-out double by Neese in the fourth, then escaped a first-and-second, one-out jam in the fifth by getting a strikeout and a foul out. In the seventh, the Indians loaded the bases with two outs, but Garrett Furr (Gold Hill, N.C.) flied out to deep center to end the inning.

Working into the eighth, Rojas departed after a one-out walk to Austin Moyer (Greensboro, N.C.) after throwing 130 pitches. When reliever D.J. Hearsey (Oviedo, Fla.) issued a walk to Brett Underwood (Greensboro, N.C.) to put two on with one out, Sturkie was summoned from the Wolves' bullpen. Houston reached on a fielder's choice grounder to leave runners at the corners, but Julio Zubillaga (China Grove, N.C.) went down swinging on a 1-2 pitch to end the threat.

Catawba mounted one final rally in the ninth, but Dula grounded into a 5-4-3 double play with a runner at first and one out to end the game.

The Indians' Josh Hohn (Greensboro, N.C.) was the lone player on either team to record more than one hit in the game, finishing 2-for-5 with a stolen base.

Wingate 4, Carson-Newman 1

FOREST CITY, N.C. -- Dodson McPherson, Brian Yeung and Casey Allison hit consecutive home runs in the sixth inning to break a 1-1 tie and lift Wingate University to a 4-1 victory over Carson-Newman College in action at the Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Baseball Tournament Wednesday at McNair Field.

Chris Nelson (Greenville, N.C.) pitched eight innings of four-hit ball to earn the win for the second-seeded Bulldogs (31-20), who will play Thursday at 7:30 p.m. against Lincoln Memorial.

Evan Patterson (Knoxville, Tenn.) finished 2-for-3 at the plate for the fifth-seeded Eagles (20-27), who will play top-seeded Catawba in an elimination game at noon Thursday. The Indians lost 4-2 to Newberry in Wednesday's tournament opener.

McPherson (Graham, N.C.), the SAC Player of the Year, hit his conference-leading 16th home run of the season to deep right-center off Carson-Newman starter Austin Bridgewater (Morristown, Tenn.) to open the sixth inning and give the Bulldogs a 2-1 lead. Three pitches later, Yeung (Raleigh, N.C.) connected for his 15th homer of the season to deep left for a 3-1 Wingate lead, and Allison (Horse Shoe, N.C.) followed on the next pitch with his ninth round-tripper of the season to left.

Nelson (5-3) was never in any serious trouble against the Carson-Newman lineup, allowing just a third-inning run and striking out three before giving way to Cameron Falcon (Durham, N.C.), who worked around a pair of hits in the ninth for his second save.

The Eagles scored the game's first run in the top of the third, as Cody Nix (Cartersville, Ga.) led off with a single, moved to second on a sacrifice, stole third and scored on a groundout by Mason Guymon (Oak Ridge, Tenn.) for a 1-0 Eagle lead.

Wingate answered with an unearned run off Bridgewater in the bottom of the third. Cody Shelton (Charlotte, N.C..) led off with a single, took second on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a two-out error.

After taking a 4-1 lead, the Bulldogs looked to add insurance in the seventh but were turned away when Eagle centerfielder Nix threw out a runner at the plate trying to score on a single by Yeung.

McPherson, Yeung and Allison all went 2-for-4 for the Bulldogs, accounting for six of the team's eight hits. Carson-Newman finished with six hits as a team, including a double from Jonathan Dalton (Rutledge, Tenn.).

Bridgewater worked five-plus innings for the Eagles, allowing four runs (three earned) on five hits while striking out two.