Pioneers hand Eagles first SAC losses
GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum College baseball team rattled off 21 hits in the opener and Taylor Rakes pitched a two-hit shutout in the night-cap, as the 23rd-ranked Pioneers swept a South Atlantic Conference doubleheader over rival Carson-Newman College Saturday afternoon at Pioneer Park. Tusculum won the first game 11-1 and the second contest, 4-0.
GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum College baseball team rattled off 21 hits in the opener and Taylor Rakes pitched a two-hit shutout in the night-cap, as the 23rd-ranked Pioneers swept a South Atlantic Conference doubleheader over rival Carson-Newman College Saturday afternoon at Pioneer Park. Tusculum won the first game 11-1 and the second contest, 4-0.
The Pioneers (14-0, 5-0 SAC) are off to their best start in program history and remain the only undefeated team in the NCAA Division II Southeast Region.
Tusculum and Carson-Newman (6-8, 3-2 SAC) will wrap up the weekend series on Sunday with a 1:30 p.m. contest.
Game 1: No. 23 Tusculum 11, Carson-Newman 1
Matt Henriksen went 3-for-5 with a double, a home run and scored three times, while Cade Stallings went 3-for-4 with two doubles and two runs scored as the Pioneers prevailed.
Tusculum pounded out a season-high 21 hits, while starting pitcher Adam Sigmon (3-0) tossed seven shutout innings of five-hit baseball as he allowed one walk and struck out six.
Nineteen (19) of the 21 hits game against C-N ace Robby Thigpen (2-1), as he went 5 1/3 innings, allowed 19 hits and 11 earned runs with a strikeout.
Tusculum got on the scoreboard first in the first inning when Lukas Graves led off with a base hit, moved to third on Stallings' single and scored on Cody Coffman's fly out for a 1-0 lead. Henriksen made it 2-0 in the fourth with his solo blast to left field, his second homer of the season.
TC exploded for three runs in the fifth, while 11 Pioneers went to the plate in a six-run, sixth inning as TC led 11-0.
In the fifth, Alexi Colon led off with a home run to right field. After Stallings was hit by a pitch, he would move to third on Henriksen's one-out double. Both would come into score thanks to Trey Drewery's two-run single.
In the sixth, Tusculum posted seven hits, including six in a row, including Stallings' RBI double that sparked the big frame for the Pioneers.
Nathan Connaughton relieved Sigmon in the seventh and pitched the final two innings, allowing a hit, an unearned run and recorded two strikeouts.
C-N reliever Daniel Sharp was very sharp for the Eagles as he went 2 2/3 innings, allowed two hits, no runs, one walk and three strikeouts.
Aaron Guinn and Nate Reid each went 3-for-4 with a RBI apiece, while Graves and Coffman each had two hits in the victory.
Game 2: No. 23 Tusculum 4, Carson-Newman 0
Taylor Rakes tossed a gem in the second game as he pitched a two-hit shutout in Tusculum's 4-0 win over the Eagles.
Rakes faced the minimum 15 batters through five innings and carried a no-hitter into the sixth before surrendering back-to-back singles by Philip Duncan and Lance Rorex. Rakes bounced back and retired the final six batters of the game to seal the shutout and the Saturday sweep.
Rakes (3-0) seven-inning gem included one walk and seven strikeouts. He retired the first eight batters he would face before walking Troy Zawadzki in the third. Zawadzki was thrown out at second base on a steal attempt.
This marks the second time this week that a Tusculum pitcher carried a no-hitter into the late innings. On Wednesday at North Greenville University, Zeke McGranahan had perfect game going into the seventh and was two outs away from a no-hitter in the ninth.
Tusculum got all the offense it would need in the third inning, scoring four times, thanks to RBI hits by Colon, Stallings and Henriksen.
After the TC-hit barrage in the opener, the Pioneers were limited to just six hits in the night-cap, behind the solid pitching performance to C-N starter Chris Armstrong. Armstrong (1-2) went the distance, allowing six hits, four runs, three walks and four strikeouts.
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