Grabowski's Walk-off Homer In The 13th Paces Tusculum To 8-6 Win Over LMU

Courtesy of Tusculum College

Box Score

GREENEVILLE, TN -- Nate Grabowski hit a two-run walk-off homer in the bottom of the 13th inning to lead the No. 9 Tusculum College baseball team to a dramatic 8-6 South Atlantic Conference win over visiting Lincoln Memorial University Friday night at Pioneer Park.

With the victory, the Pioneers (26-10, 13-0 SAC) remain undefeated in the league, while the Railsplitters fall to 26-14, 5-9 SAC.

Grabowski’s two-run blast was the second big home run of the evening for Tusculum. With the Pioneers trailing 6-4 in the bottom of the ninth and with two outs, pinch-hitter Sean Finucane clubbed a two-run shot over the scoreboard in left field to send the game into extra innings.

The battle between the two longtime East Tennessee rivals was filled with heroics from both sides in the three-hour and 42-minute marathon.

Tusculum plated a run in the first inning as the Pioneers drew three straight one-out walks and Jared Richmond drove in the game’s first score with his sacrifice fly.

LMU tied the game in the third inning when John Couch led off with his 14th double of the season and scored on Tommy Casto’s infield single. The Railsplitters plated another run in the fourth and three more in the fifth to take a 5-1 advantage. In the fourth, LMU got back-to-back singles by Ralph Rosas and Jason Pabon to lead off the frame. Rosas would score on Shane Kaufman’s ground out. In the fifth inning, LMU used four hits and an error to score three unearned runs off of TC starter C.J. Hillyer. Casto posted his second hit of the day with his second triple of 2009 to score Bryon Izzo. Casto would cross the plate himself on Cody Pack’s fly out. Eric Kitts wrapped up the scoring with his two-out single.

Tusculum trimmed the deficit to 5-4 with a run each in the fifth and seventh innings. In the bottom of the fifth, Sean Cotten hit a two-run double to right center and score on Richmond’s sharp hit to right. TC made drew within one with some more two-out magic as Grabowski doubled and scored on Cotten’s single up the middle.

The Railsplitters got one of the runs back in the eighth as reliever Kyle Smith got in a jam with runners at second and third with one out. After an intentional walk to Casto to load the bases, relief pitcher Rob Currie was brought in. Currie got Pack to fly out in foul territory, but walked Rosas on four straight pitches as LMU went ahead 6-3. Currie got Pabon to line out to end the inning.

Tusculum had a golden opportunity in the bottom of the inning as the Pioneers had the bases loaded with no outs. LMU reliever Jeff Ludlow was brought aboard. Ludlow got Payden Houser to ground out to second baseman Nick Langley, but the ball was bobbled allowing Tyler Collins to score from third. With the bases still loaded, Ludlow worked his way out of trouble as he struck out Hudgins and Ricky Feliz and got Grabowski on a ground out as LMU carried a two-run lead into the ninth.

Cotten led off the inning with a base hit, but the next two batters would fly out, sending pinch-hitter Finucane to the plate as he sent his second home run of the season to left field and a 6-6 deadlock.

The score would remain that way until the 13th. With one out, Feliz drew a walk to set the table for Grabowski, who sent a 1-1 pitch over the right field wall for Tusculum’s 13th home win in 14 tries this year.

Currie (3-1) picked up the win in relief as he went 5.2 innings where he allowed just a hit, walked two and struck out eight. Ludlow was the hard-luck loser in the contest as he pitched 5.1 innings, scattered four hits, allowed four runs, walked two with six strikeouts. The LMU pitching duo of starter Sean Woolard (106) and Ludlow (103) combined for 209 pitches on the night.

Cotten led all hitters with his 3-for-5 night, while Grabowski, Collins and Finucane each tallied two hits in the game. Cotten keeps his nine-game hitting streak alive.

Casto extends his hitting streak to 11 in a row as he went 2-for-6 with two RBI. Pabon, Rosas, Kaufman and Couch each record a pair of hits in the loss.

The two teams will wrap up their three-game weekend series on Saturday with a doubleheader beginning at 2 p.m. This is a time change due to the length of Friday’s contest.

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