ANDERSON, S.C. — Senior JC LeGrand (Lugoff, S.C.) blasted a pair of home runs and recorded four RBIs to help the Anderson University (6-2, 1-0 SAC) baseball team open their conference slate with a 12-9 win over Tusculum University (3-5, 0-1 SAC) on Friday, February 16.

Freshman Carson Molinaroli (Simpsonville, S.C.) pitched in a trio of RBIs on the night while senior Kye Andress (Hendersonville, N.C.) tallied a pair. Juniors Luke Poole (Greenwood, S.C.) and Anthony Pandolfi (Hicksville, N.Y.) were each able to add an RBI as well. Graduate Matt Dooley (Lexington, S.C.) picked up the win in relief, tossing a pair of scoreless innings before senior Nick Miller (Central, S.C.) retired the final three batters in order, all through strikeouts, to pick up the save,

Neither team was able to bring in a run in the first two frames of the contest before the Pioneers were able to post three runs on the board in the third and another two in the fourth to jump out to a 5-0 advantage. Molinaroli knocked an RBI-single for the Trojans in the bottom of the fourth, but Tusculum was able to answer back in the fifth with a run of their own.

LeGrand scored the first of two runs in the fifth for the Black and Gold with a solo shot over the right field fence before Andress was able to score the second, trotting home the final distance off a wild pitch. Tusculum posted two more runs in the top of the sixth, extending their lead to 9-3. That's when the offense started to click for the Trojans as they were able to close the gap to just three runs with a trio of scores in the bottom of sixth, followed by four runs in the bottom of the seventh, highlighted by a three run shot from LeGrand over the right field fence to give them their first lead of the contest. 

Anderson was able to post two insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth inning off a pair of sacrifice flies while Dooley and Miller combined to shut the Pioneers down offensively the rest of the way, securing the 12-9 win for the Trojans.

The two teams return to action tomorrow, February 17, as they wrap up their three game conference series with a doubleheader slated for a 1:00 p.m. start.