GREENEVILLE, Tenn. – Playing their fourth game in three days on the road, the King University baseball team nearly came away with a win at Tusculum University. The Tornado held the lead in the early going, but a big Tusculum inning late was too much to overcome as the Pioneers took the game 8-7.

THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: Tusculum 8, King 7
LOCATION: Pioneer Park, Greeneville, Tenn.
RECORDS: King 10-5; Tusculum 10-7
TIME OF GAME: 3:32

KING HIGHLIGHTS

• Jarrett Backus drove in four and ripped his first career home run.
• Junior Renwick hit his second home run of the season in the first inning.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The second batter of the game, Renwick ripped a home run to put the Tornado on top.
• Backus struck in the fourth inning with a three-run home run to extend the King lead to 4-0.
• However, the Pioneers answered with three runs on a Daulton Martin triple, cutting the King lead to 4-3.
• Harrison Barger single in the fifth, stole second and moved to third on a Renwick single.
• Barger scored on a balk to extend the Tornado lead before the Pioneers matched that run in the bottom of the fifth inning.
• In the sixth, Backus drove in Brayden Cooney in the sixth, giving King a 6-4 lead.
• Tusculum then had a big inning in the bottom half, scoring four runs to take the lead.
• The Pioneers scored one run on a throwing error before a squeeze bunt evened the score.
• A run-scoring single from Fuzzy Furr gave Tusculum the lead before a Brandon Trammell double gave the Pioneers an 8-6 lead.
• Hunter Barbour pulled King within 8-7 when he ripped a single that scored Austin Meyer in the eighth.
• The Tornado couldn't get anything going in the ninth as Tusculum took the game 8-7

FOR THE FOES

• Martin drove in three on two hits.
• Jaden Steagall and Trammell posted two hits each.

OF RECORD

Winning Pitcher: Sam Loew (1-0) 2.2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO
Losing Pitcher: Nic Blankenship (1-1) 1.0 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO
Save: Mitch McCain (2) 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO

UP NEXT

• King is scheduled to host Barton College on Friday and Saturday. First pitch on Friday is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. with Saturday's doubleheader starting at 12:00 p.m.
• Tusculum travels to UVa-Wise on Friday and Saturday.