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GREENEVILLE, Tenn. – Tusculum made early offense stick to hold off the Bloomsburg University baseball team, 5-2, on Sunday afternoon.
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The Huskies (6-6) grabbed an early lead by pushing across a run in the top of the second. An error by the Pioneers allowed
Corey Baiada (Harleysville/LaSalle) to reach and advance to second base to lead off the inning and Baiada moved to third on a sacrifice bunt from
Brad Smith (Morgantown/Twin Valley).
Damin Muth (Breinigsville/Parkland) then brought Baiada home by punching an RBI single through the left side for a 1-0 advantage.
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Tusculum (14-8) answered in the bottom half of the inning, also taking advantage of an error to plate two unearned runs.
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Bloomsburg tied the game 2-2 in its half of the third, using a bit of small ball.
Brady West (Harleysville/North Penn) singled with one out and moved himself into scoring position by stealing second.
Eric Frain (Philadelphia/Archbishop Ryan) then scored West from second with his RBI single to right for the tie.
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The Pioneers counterpunched once again, however, breaking the game open with three runs in the bottom of the third thanks to four hits in the frame.
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From there the two teams exchanged zeroes. T.J. Miller (2-1) locked things down the rest of the way for the Pioneers, working a complete game while scattering seven hits and allowing just one earned run. He did not walk a batter and struck out three, needing only 98 pitches to complete the game.
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Tyler Hill (Lehighton/Lehighton) (1-1) started and threw four innings, allowing three earned runs with two strikeouts for the Huskies.
Cody Heane (McClure/Indian Valley) was solid in relief, throwing three scoreless innings, while
Kyle Hunter (Lehighton/Lehighton) worked a scoreless eighth.
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Nick Rodriguez knocked in two runs for Tusculum while John Topoleski tallied three hits.
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Frain paced the Huskies offense with two hits out of the leadoff spot with West adding two hits and a run.
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Bloomsburg returns to the state of Tennessee next weekend with three games on tap in Nashville. The Huskies are slated to play Mercyhurst, Grand Valley State and Trevecca Nazarene over three days of action in the final Southern road trip of the spring.Â