Baseball Falls to Tusculum in Slugfest
Teams combine for 39 hits in the game
MARS HILL, N.C. - Cody Coffman hit Tusculum College's sixth home run of the game, a three-run shot in the top of the ninth inning, as the 12th-ranked Pioneers outslugged Mars Hill College 19-15 in a non-conference baseball game at Henderson Field Wednesday afternoon.
The Pioneers are off to a 6-0 start in 2011. The Lions dropped to 5-6 despite overcoming a 10-0 first-inning deficit to take a 15-14 lead in the eighth.
Tusculum finished with 20 hits in the slugfest, including two home runs apiece from Alexi Colon and Rolondo Bonner. Colon and Bonner each had three hits in the victory, as did Sean Cotten, Nate Reid and Coffman. Bonner reached base in all six of his plate appearances (three hits, three walks) and scored four runs while Colon drove home six.
Seven of the Pioneers' nine starters had at least two hits and all nine starters scored at least one run. Bonner, Reid and Coffman all drove in three runs while Aaron Guinn went 2-for-4 with three runs scored and Payden Houser finished 2-for-5 with a pair of RBI.
Mars Hill hit five home runs and had 12 extra-base hits among their 19 hits in the game. Brandon King went 4-for-6 with two home runs and four runs batted in and Rusty Smith finished 4-for-6 with three doubles, a home run and three runs scored. All nine Lion starters had at least one hit and one run scored in the contest.
The Pioneers scored 10 runs in the top of the first inning off Lion starter Dustin Harrill. Bonner and Reid hit two-run homers to give Tusculum a 4-0 lead after four batters, and Colon hit a grand slam to extend the Pioneer advantage to 8-0.
Mars Hill chipped away with three runs in the first, four in the fourth and three in the fourth to pull within 13-10. Tusculum led 14-12 after five innings, and the Lions tacked on a run in the seventh to pull within 14-13. In the eighth, Coty Pate hit a two-run homer off Tusculum reliever Dylan Hochevar to give Mars Hill its first lead of the day at 15-14.
The Pioneers' ninth-inning rally got underway when Bonner led off with a walk against Tony Hearrell (0-2) and Cotten was hit by a pitch. On an attempted sacrifice by Reid, a Lion error allowed Bonner to score the tying run. Coffman then hit his first home run of the season to left-center to give the Pioneers an 18-15 lead. Later in the inning, Houser drove home Guinn with an insurance run to close out the scoring.
Michael Franklin (1-0), the fifth Pioneer pitcher, threw 1 1/3 scoreless innings of relief to earn the victory. Tusculum starter John-Austin Shepard was knocked out of the box in the second inning after allowing seven runs (four earned) on five hits.
Mars Hill will open conference play this weekend when they
travel to Wingate University to face the Bulldogs in a three-game
set. The teams will meet for a single game on Friday at 6 p.m. and
then return for a double-header on Saturday at 1 p.m.
