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LATE RUN RALLIES PUSH TUSCULUM TO SERIES SWEEP

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In Saturday's season opening doubleheader at Tusculum College, the Concord Baseball team fell behind early in each game and wound up being swept.

Sunday, the Pioneers rallied late to complete the series sweep.

Tusculum broke up a 3-3 tie with a single run in the bottom of the 6th and two more in the bottom of the 7th in a 6-3 victory over the Mountain Lions at Pioneer Park in Greeneville, TN.

The Pioneers reached CU starter Jacob Mays for a single run in the 1st, but Concord replied in the top of the 2nd. Kyle Webb singled with one out and advanced to third on a bad pickoff attempt by TC starter Jason Gardner, who compounded his error by throwing a wild pitch that scored Webb and tied the game at 1-1.

Tusculum would score twice in the bottom of the 2nd to go ahead 3-1, but the lead didn't last long. Randy Beard led off the top of the 3rd, and Jacob Mays sacrificed him to second. Beard went to third on another wayward pickoff attempt by Gardner, and scored on Keith Morrisroe's sacrifice fly.

Beard plagued Gardner again in the top of the 5th. The Mountain Lions' centerfielder led off with a full-count walk, and Mays again sacrificed him to second. Gardner uncorked a wild pitch that moved Beard to third, and he would score one out later on an error by Pioneers' 3B Matt Henriksen. The game was tied 3-3.

Tusculum (5-0) broke the tie in the 6th on Branfy Arias' RBI single, then scored twice in the 7th on an RBI single by Aaron Guinn and Trey Drewery's sacrifice fly.

Webb led the Concord offense by going 3-4 with a run scored. Beard was 1-4 and scored twice.

"Our record coming out of this weekend does not reflect on our ability to be a championship team in 2011," CU head coach Andrew Wright said Sunday.  "One of our strengths as a program is that we have a great makeup as a unit.  This weekend we showed that we won't quit in the face of adversity, and that'll go a long way in a 50-game schedule.
"We have a good week of weather ahead of us, which will allow us to get back to the basics and get ready for another competitive non-conference weekend series."


BOXSCORE/PLAY-BY-PLAY


Up next for Concord (0-3) is a three-game next weekend series at King College (TN).  The two teams will play a noon doubleheader on Saturday, February 19, and a single game at 2:00 pm on Sunday, February 20.

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