WILSON, N.C.-Host Barton College and Tusculum College split a pair of NCAA DII Southeast Region baseball contests on a cloudy Wednesday afternoon at Nixon Field.
The Bulldogs thrilled the home crowd by winning 6-5 in the continuation of a game that was halted in the eighth (first extra) inning because of darkness on Tuesday. Left-hander Kyle Norville worked out of a jam in the top of the ninth, and then Barton's Matt Willis started the decisive rally in the bottom of the ninth with a double to left-center field. He moved to third on a fly out by Jimmie Davis. Clay Martin was walked intentionally and Mitchell Wheeler drew a walk to load the bases. Collins Cottrell lined a shot into left-center field for the game-winning single.
However, the Pioneers (16-5) rapped 11 hits on seven Bulldog pitchers and won the rubber game of the three-game series 14-5. Play finished just before dark. Barton is now 7-14 overall and plays at Conference Carolinas rival Erskine on Friday and Saturday.
In the second game, Barton jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second inning on an RBI double by Cottrell and RBI singles from John Hunter and David Gibbons. The Pioneers seized control with a 6-run third inning. Sean Cotton rapped a two-run double, Nate Reid blasted a two-run homer to left field, Matt Hendrickson swiped home on a double steal and Lukas Graves singled in a run.
Rolondo Bonner walked and Cotton belted a two-run homer to make it 8-3 in the fourth. David Gibbons scored on a wild pitch for Barton in the sixth before Tusculum erupted for six more runs on three hits, three walks and an error in the seventh. Barton plated its last run in the seventh when Jordan Smith reached on an error, went to third on a Willis double and scored on a sacrifice fly by Clay Martin.
J.D. Howard (1-0) picked up the win in 4 1/3 inning of action in relief of starter Craig Mooney, who lasted 1 2/3 innings. Eddie Vinas pitched two innings and Eric Conley one for the Pioneers.
Norville started for Barton and exited in the third inning. Jimmie Davis (0-3) toed the mound next and yielded three runs on four hits in one-third inning of action. The Barton pitching staff issued eight walks and was hampered by four errors. Tusculum committed six errors.
Henriksen batted 3-for-6 to pace the Pioneers while Cotton, Graves and Aaron Guinn rapped two hits apiece. Barton tallied 10 hits. Gibbons was 3-of-5 and Willis was 2-for-4 with a double.
In the game that started Tuesday and finished Wednesday, Tusculum jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second on an RBI groundout from Carlos Santana and a run-scoring single by Alexi Colon. The lead grew to 4-0 in the top half of the fourth when Guinn and Payden Houser singled and eventually came home a two-run double from Colon.
Barton scratched out two runs in the bottom of the fourth on back-to-back doubles by Aaron Watkins and Martin and RBI groundouts from Mitchell Wheeler and Phillip Cotton. The Bulldogs tied the score at 4-4 in the fifth on a single by Smith, a fielder's choice and a two-run single by Willis.
Tusculum regained the lead at 5-4 in the top of the sixth when Reid was hit by a pitch, moved to third on a throwing error and scored on a failed pickoff attempt. The Bulldogs forced extra innings in the bottom of the seventh when Ryan Daughtry singled, went to second on a groundout, moved to third on a fly out and scored on a throwing error. Barton left the bases loaded in the eighth, and then the game was halted because of darkness.
However, the Bulldogs took care of business when play resumed Wednesday when Willis (who batted 4-for-9 in the last two series games) laced his ninth-inning double and scored on Cuthrell's single.
Norville (2-2) was the last of six Barton pitchers and got the win in just one inning of work. Tyler Collins (2-1) was tagged with the loss after retiring just one batter.
Barton outhit the Pioneers 12-10, with Cuthrell, Wheeler, Willis and Rawlings notching two hits apiece. Houser was 3-of-5 to lead the Pioneers. Colon was 2-for-5 and drove in three runs and Guinn added two hits.
