GREENEVILLE, TENN. – The Queens University of Charlotte baseball team had two late-game rallies fall short on Saturday afternoon, suffering back-to-back losses to Tusculum University by scores of 7-6 and 6-4 at Pioneer Park.
 
Tusculum improved to 18-10 overall and 7-2 in South Atlantic Conference play with the sweeps, while Queens fell to 5-18 with a 1-8 League mark.
 
Game One: Tusculum 7, Queens 6
 
The Pioneers took advantage of two Queens fielding errors to score three runs in both the first and second innings of play in game one, building an early 6-0 lead.
 
The Royals scored their first run in the top of the fourth inning with an RBI single from redshirt-freshman Anthony Orta, but the Pioneers responded with a run of their own in the home half of the inning to extend the lead back to a six-run advantage.
 
Redshirt-junior Ryan Dudney started a late-game rally in the sixth inning when he singled and later scored on a Tusculum error. Redshirt-sophomore Dominic Ford kept the comeback alive with a two-run home run in the seventh, his second long ball of the season, to cut the lead to 7-4.
 
A Nick Brassington sacrifice fly brought a run home in the eighth and redshirt-freshman Noah Jones homered over the right field fence in the top of the ninth before a strikeout ended the Queens comeback hopes prematurely.
 
Jones was 3-for-4 at the plate with a home run, RBI and two runs scored, while Ford was 2-for-5 with a home run and two RBI. Dudney was also 2-for-5 in the game and Brassington finished 2-for-3 with an RBI of his own.
 
Redshirt-junior Jack Bergren (2-3) suffered the loss on the mound after giving up six runs on six hits in 1.1 inning of work. Junior Lee Harrison came out of the bullpen to allow just one run on four hits with six strikeouts in 5.1 innings of relief and freshman Daniel Bagwell pitched a perfect eighth inning in a relief appearance.
 
Game Two: Tusculum 6, Queens 4 (Seven inn.)
 
The second game of Saturday's doubleheader started in a similar fashion as the first with the Pioneers gaining an early lead with three runs in the second inning and another in the third.
 
Another Orta RBI single put Queens on the scoreboard in the fourth inning, but Tusculum once again answered with a run of their own in the bottom of the frame.
 
Back-to-back walks drawn by freshman Alex Sexton and redshirt-junior Chase Hager began the fifth inning as Sexton later scored on an RBI single from fellow freshman Nick Melton and Hager scored on a Pioneer error. Melton scored the Royals' third run of the inning on a wild pitch.
 
Queens went down in order in both the sixth and seventh inning as Tusculum reliever Christian Cuba shut the door with 2.2 scoreless innings out of the bullpen.
 
Redshirt-freshman Nick Nelson (1-5) surrendered five runs (one earned) on four hits with three strikeouts and five walks in four innings. Bagwell made his second appearance of the day and seventh of the season, giving up just one run on one hit with two strikeouts in two innings on the mound.
 
The Royals return to action on Tuesday, March 19 as they host Barton College at Intimidators Stadium. First pitch against he Bulldogs is scheduled for 6 p.m. in Kannapolis, N.C.