WANTED

Tusculum claims share of first SAC baseball title
Win over Presbyterian
clinches championship
Pioneer baseballers notch place in tournament history
The Tusculum College Pioneers became the first
baseball team in South Atlantic Conference
(SAC) history to lose its opener then win six straight
games to win its first-ever SAC Tournament title.
En route, the Pioneers swept arch-rival Carson-
Newman College not once, but twice.
The Pioneers used a nine-run explosion in the
fourth inning to set the tone for the entire contest
as the second-seeded Pioneers forced another
championship game with the thirdseeded
Eagles, downing Carson-Newman
15-9.
The Eagles out-hit the Pioneers 20-18 in
the game but left 11 runners on base. Kenny
Reed of Knoxville and Adam Beacham of Atlanta
each smacked three-run homers to power
the Pioneers to the win.
Jeff Bryant of Knoxville went deep into the game
for the Pioneers on the mound, pitching seven and
two-thirds innings, striking out three batters.
The first run in the fourth inning came when
Adam Hicks of Bristol, Tenn., hit a sacrifice fly to
center field to score Reed. That run snapped the 26-
inning scoreless run the Eagles had built during the
The No. 27 Tusculum College baseball team
completed a sweep over Presbyterian College
at Pioneer Park April 17 and claimed a share
of its first-ever South Atlantic Conference (SAC)
Championship. The Pioneers' victory, coupled
with Mars Hill's 5-1 win over No. 17 Catawba,
moved the Pioneers in a tie for first place on the
final day of the conference season.
Tusculum (34-12, 14-6) also tied a school record
for most wins in a season as Eric Butler (5-5)
posted a solid pitching effort going 7.2 innings
where he scattered three hits, allowed two runs,
one earned, walked three and struck out six.
The Pioneers got multi-hit performances from
Josh Wolff, George Hanger and Greg Stotser.
But with Tusculum leading just 3-2 in the eighth
inning, Matt Webb came through with the biggest
hit of the game when he posted a two-run
double.
Presbyterian starter Zach Matthews (2-6) was
the hard-luck loser as he pitched well in his complete
game effort. Matthews held Tusculum at
bay for most of the game, retiring 10 consecutive
batters at one point.
•
tournament in games against Lenoir-Rhyne,
Newberry and Catawba. The first run in the fourth
inning came when Adam Hicks hit a sacrifice fly.
Matt Riggs of Dayton, Tenn.. hit a two-run single
to right and Tim Brown of Flint, Mich., followed that
with a two-run triple. The final blow would come
when Reed smacked a three-run homerun to right
field. Eight of the nine runs TC scored in the
fourth came with two outs.
The Eagles trailed 10-2 going into the
eighth inning but pushed six runs across
the plate. Carson-Newman had four
consecutive RBI singles and Derrick
Calkin of Maryville, Tenn., cut the score
to 10-8 with a two-run double.
But any hopes of an Eagle comeback were
dashed as the Pioneers scored five runs in the top of
the fifth. Greg Stotser of Columbus, Ga., hit a tworun
single and Beacham blasted a three-run homer
to left field.
Following up the first win, Tusculum used timely
hitting and solid pitching to capture its first-ever
Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Champion-
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The champion Pioneer baseball team