SAC Baseball Championship Day One Results

Day one of the 2012 Food Lion SAC Baseball Championship is underway in Forest City. Click here for recaps from Thursday's quarterfinals as they become available. Complete information on the event can be found at SAC Championship Central.

Tusculum 6, Newberry 1 [Box Score]

FOREST CITY, N.C.- Tusculum rode a strong pitching performance by Craig Goodman and clutch hitting to a 6-1 victory over Newberry in the first round of the 2012 Food Lion SAC Baseball Championship at McNair Field.

Goodman retired ten in a row on his way to a complete-game victory. The senior scattered eight hits, an unearned run, walked two and struck out seven to improve to 10-0 on the season. Matt Henriksen drove in two runs to pace the Pioneers offensively. Tusculum advances to play the loser of the Brevard-Wingate game. Newberry will face the loser of the Catawba-Carson-Newman matchup.

Tusculum struck first in the bottom of the first. A pair of walks and a hit batter loaded the bases. Henriksen worked a bases-loaded walk to score the game's first run and make the score 1-0 in favor of the Pioneers.

Goodman pitched out of a first-and-third, none out jam in the top of the third by picking off a runner and inducing a 6-4-3 double play to help preserve the Pioneer lead.

An Alexi Colon solo home run in the bottom of the third gave the Pioneers a 3-0 lead. Tusculum added further to its lead on a Cody Coffman RBI-single in the bottom of the fifth, Cade Stallings RBI-single in the bottom of the sixth, and Heath Comerford RBI-single in the seventh. Coffman had three hits for the Pioneers.

Henriksen added an RBI-double in the bottom of eighth to cap the scoring for Tusculum.

Zach Morgan had an RBI-single in the ninth to break up the shutout for the Wolves.

Josh McElwee took the loss for Newberry, allowing three earned runs over 5.2 innings. The senior walked six and fanned nine.

Carson-Newman 6, Catawba 5 [Box Score]

FOREST CITY, N.C.-- Carson-Newman broke a late five-all tie when Troy Zawadski scored on an interference call in the top of the eighth to spark the Eagles to a 6-5 victory over Catawba in the first round of the 2012 Food Lion SAC Baseball Tournament.

After loading the bases in the top of the eighth, Carson-Newman put the squeeze play on. Charging home from third, Zawadski was caught in a run-down, but was interfered with, allowing the run to score. That run proved to be the difference in the Eagles 6-5 victory.

Lance Reed and Bo Ausmus paced Carson-Newman offensively with two RBIs. Cameron Beard and Ryan Bostian each had two RBI for Catawba. The Eagles advance to face the winner of the Brevard-Wingate game at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow. Catawba will face Newberry at noon tomorrow.

Carson-Newman jumped out to score the game's first three runs over the first two innings. A Reed sacrifice fly gave the Eagles a 1-0 lead after the top of the first. Bo Ausmus' two-run double extended the lead to 3-0 after two.

A sac fly by Brett Underwood cut the Eagle lead to 3-1 after three. Eagle pitcher Evan Faithful and Indian counterpart JJ Jankowski traded zeroes over the next three frames to keep each team's respective bats in check.

Carson-Newman extended its lead to 5-1 in the top of the seventh, with two runs scoring on an error.

The Indians overcame the four-run deficit to tie the score in the bottom of the frame. A two-run double by Bostian cut the deficit to 5-3. After a groundout, Chris Dula reached on an error to extend the inning. Beard took advantage of the extra out with a two-run single to right to knot the score at five-apiece.

Brandon Timmerman earned the save for Carson-Newman. Timmerman worked out of a bases-loaded, one out jam in the bottom of the eighth and closed out the Indians in the ninth to earn the save.

Wingate 12, Brevard 4

Rock Hill, S.C. - Casey Allison and Thomas Spitz powered four-seed Wingate University past three-seed Brevard on Thursday evening in the final game of the first day of the 2012 Food Lion SAC Baseball Tournament with the 12-4 victory.

Allison drilled a two-run home run over the left field fence at McNair Field in the eighth inning and Spitz added four RBIs as the duo paced a 17-hit Bulldogs offensive attack on the evening to back Wingate starter Ben Currie in the victory.

Wingate struck first in the top of the third off BC starter Zach Joyce, plating the first run of the contest in the frame. Dodson McPherson sent Jacob Karr into scoring position with two outs in the inning with a bouncing single through the right side of the infield and Brian Yeung followed with a single to left centerfield. The base hit scored Karr, but Yeung was thrown out trying to extend the hit into a double to end the inning with the threat neutralized.

Champ Stuart answered for Brevard in the bottom half of the frame and evening the score with a shot off the fence in left field to knot the game up at one. Kramer Clark drew a two-out walk from Currie and Stuart followed, jumping on the first pitch and driving it off the 25 foot tall fence in left field. Clark came around to score in the inning, but Stuart was caught in a rundown between second and third and tagged out to end the inning.

Wingate chased Joyce from the game in the fourth inning, plating three runs to advance the Bulldogs' cause. Chris Vazquez singled home Allison for the first run in the inning, bringing in the runner on a bunt through the BC infield, while Spitz doubled down the left field line, scoring Josh Clark. A passed ball brought in the final Wingate run in the inning, allowing Godinez to score from third to push the lead to 4-1.

The Bulldogs added two more runs to their total in the sixth as Allison singled in Spitz with two outs in the inning, while Clark doubled home McPherson with a line drive down the left field line to advance the lead to 6-1 before Casey Smith retired the side on a groundout to end the inning.

Brevard battled back in the bottom of the seventh, taking advantage of a pair of Wingate errors to cut the lead down to 6-4. Chad Funkhouser led off the inning with a base hit up the middle, advancing into scoring position on Tarron Robinson's double down the right field line. The first run of the inning scored as Cody Queen reached on an error, and O'Dell followed with a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Robinson. The final run in the frame scored on a botched fielding attempt on a fly ball in short centerfield, allowing Queen to score from first base to cut the lead down to two with two innings to play.

Allison quickly silenced the mostly pro-BC crowd at McNair Field in the top of the eighth, following a sacrifice bunt by Yeung with a two-run blast over the towering fence in left field to score McPherson. Spitz followed later in the inning with a bases-clearing triple, scoring Godinez, Vazquez and Jason Hunter as the Bulldogs began to pull away from the Tornados late in the game.

Wingate added a final run in the top of the ninth as McPherson scored on a fielder's choice, and the Bulldogs retired the Tornados in the bottom half of the inning to end the contest.

Currie went seven strong innings for Wingate, earning the victory after scattering four hits and striking out four. Joyce earned the loss for Brevard, allowing eight hits and four runs (three earned) in 3.2 innings, while striking out two.

Wingate advances to take on no. 5 Carson-Newman in the nightcap tomorrow evening at McNair Field, while Brevard takes on top-seed Tusculum College in the 3:45 p.m. game.