NEWBERRY, SC – Tusculum College senior first baseman Casey Taylor singled home senior rightfielder Michael Holt in the bottom of the 11th inning as the fourth-seeded Pioneers advanced in the Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Baseball Tournament over No. 5 Lenoir-Rhyne College 6-5 at Kirkland Field.

Lenoir-Rhyne (30-19) held a 4-0 after the top of the seventh inning, punctuated by senior second baseman Craig Sizemore’s two-run home run. Tusculum (28-22) answered in their half of the seventh with a two-run homer from junior catcher Doug Hering to make the score 4-2.

The Pioneers scored two more runs in the eighth to tie when sophomore shortstop Robbie Bouman singled home two runs.

L-R seemed to take control of the game in the ninth when they pieced together an infield single and three straight walks with two outs to take a 5-4 lead. However, TC reliever Jason Davis escaped further damage when he struck out senior left fielder Joe Nichols with the bases loaded.

The Pioneers tied the contest in the bottom of the ninth with a two-out RBI single from senior third baseman Jose Martinez.

Tusculum tallied the winning run in the 11th when a walk by Holt followed by a single from Martinez put runners on first and second. A passed ball and a stolen base moved the runners up a base before Taylor came through with the game-winning hit.

Davis gets the win in relief for the Pioneers, upping his mark to 4-1. Junior Matt Howell takes the loss, dropping him to 7-2.

The Bears will play the loser of the Carson-Newman College/Newberry College game in the elimination bracket on Friday morning at 9 a.m. at Newberry High School’s Bill Harvey Field. Tusculum advances to play the winner of the C-N/NC contest, also at 9 a.m. Friday at Newberry College.

Food Lion / SAC Spring Sports Festival – Game One
Lenoir-Rhyne College vs Tusculum College
Apr 25, 2002 at Newberry, S.C. (Kirkland Field)

Lenoir-Rhyne College 5 (30-19) Tusculum College 6 (28-22)
Player AB R H BI                         Player AB R H BI
--------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------
Jarred Caputo ss........... 4 0 1 1     Dave McMahon cf............ 5 1 1 0
Dustin Day 3b.............. 6 2 2 0     Michael Holt lf/rf......... 5 1 1 0
Craig Sizemore 2b.......... 6 2 3 2     J. Martinez 3b............. 6 0 3 1
Chip Bradford cf........... 6 0 1 1     G. Hanger dh............... 4 0 3 0
Paul Pope rf............... 5 0 1 0     M. Klossner pr/dh.........  0 1 0 0
Israel Campbell p/dh....... 3 0 0 0     T. Kuypers ph/dh..........  1 0 0 0
J.R. Hopf 1b............... 4 0 0 1     Casey Taylor 1b............ 6 1 2 1
Joe Nichols lf............. 5 1 0 0     Stonesifer rf.............. 3 0 1 0
Brian Tester c............. 3 0 1 0     V. Puentes pr/lf..........  1 0 0 0
Justin McLeymore p........  0 0 0 0     Rob Bouman ss.............. 5 1 2 2
Matt Howell p.............  0 0 0 0     Doug Hering c.............. 5 1 2 1
Brett Yates p.............  0 0 0 0     Trevor Adams 2b............ 5 0 1 0
S. Ferguson p.............. 0 0 0 0     Jason Davis p.............  0 0 0 0

Totals..................... 42 5 9 5    Totals.....................46 6 16 5

Score by Innings                      R  H E
----------------------------------------------
Lenoir-Rhyne College 000 110 201 00 - 5  9 0
Tusculum College.... 000 000 221 01 - 6 16 1
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Note: 2 outs, 2 runners LOB when the game ended.
E - S. Ferguson(3). DP - Bears 2. LOB - Bears 12; Pioneers 12. 2B - Pope(2); Rob
Bouman(8). 3B - Day(2). HR - Sizemore(5); Doug Hering(3). HBP - Stonesifer. SB -
Tester(2); J. Martinez(5). CS - Bradford(5).
Lenoir-Rhyne College         IP  H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF FO GO
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Israel Campbell ........... 9.0 13 5  5  2  3  2  0  1  0  38 41 7 15
Justin McLeymore .......... 1.1  1 1  0  1  0  0  0  0  0   5  6 3  1
Matt Howell L,7-2.........  0.1  1 0  0  0  1  0  0  0  0   2  2 0  0
Brett Yates ............... 0.0  1 0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0   1  1 0  0
Tusculum College             IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF FO GO
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
S. Ferguson ............... 8.2 9 5  4  8  6  2  0  0  0  35 43 9  10
Jason Davis W,4-1.........  2.1 0 0  0  0  1  0  0  0  0   7  7 4   2

WP - Campbell 2(15); S. Ferguson 2(17). HB - Campbell. PB - Tester(2); Doug Hering(9).
Strikeouts - Sizemore 2; Bradford 2; Campbell; Nichols 2; Michael Holt; J. Martinez;
T. Kuypers; Rob Bouman. Walks - Caputo 2; Pope; Campbell 2; Hopf; Tester 2; Dave
McMahon; Michael Holt; T. Kuypers.
Start: 9:02 am Time: 3:18 Attendance: 75