Wingate, N.C.----The Wingate University Bulldogs will host the Pioneers of Tusculum College for a three-game South Atlantic Conference baseball series this weekend at Ron Christopher Stadium and Plyler Athletic Field. The first game is Friday night at 7 p.m. The teams will meet for a doubleheader Saturday, with game one starting at 1 p.m. The Wingate Sports Network will provide a live PPV video broadcast for all three games.

The Bulldogs enter the weekend series 7-5 overall and 4-2 in the SAC. Tusculum is 7-7 overall and 3-3 in the conference. The two teams met five times during the 2009 season, with the Pioneers winning four times. The final victory was a 4-0 win in the Food Lion SAC tournament at Ron Christopher Stadium and Plyler Athletic Field.

The Bulldogs have taken two-out-of-three in the first two SAC series of the 2010 season. Wingate won the first two games at Lenoir-Rhyne University. The Bulldogs also won the first two games over Mars Hill College. The Wingate-MHC series was moved from Mars Hill to Wingate due to weather concerns.

The LRU series began with Wingate’s dramatic 5-4 victory, as the Bulldogs scored four runs in the ninth. Trailing 3-1 entering the ninth, the Bulldogs cut the lead to one and loaded the bases for sophomore Chris Vazquez (Tyrone, Ga.). He delivered with a three-run double to make it 5-3. Wingate’s offense exploded for 19 runs in Saturday’s game, getting seven RBI from sophomore outfielder Dodson McPherson (Graham, N.C.) and five from Vazquez. Each player hit a grand slam in the victory.

Wingate took two from Mars Hill last weekend, starting with a 9-7 victory in Saturday’s first game. The Bulldogs trailed 6-2 after three innings, but tied it in the fourth with homers from sophomore infielder Jacob Karr (Richmond, Va.) and senior outfielder Nick Siega-Riz (Clemmons, N.C.). Wingate trailed by a run in the eighth when junior Tres Ramirez (Ocala, Fla.) blasted a pinch-hit, three-run homer to make it 9-7. The Bulldogs took a 6-3 win in the nightcap, getting a lead-off homer from Siega-Riz, who added a three-run shot in the sixth.

McPherson is hitting .372 on the season, with two homers and a team-high 17 RBI. Siega-Riz leads the team with seven homers and 18 runs scored, to go with 15 RBI, four doubles and a triple. Sophomore infielder Logan Isaacs (Raleigh, N.C.) leads the Bulldogs with a .486 average and 17 hits, while adding three homers.

Preseason All-SAC selection Tyler Almond (Oakboro, N.C.) anchors the pitching staff. He is 1-0 overall with a 3.00 ERA. Almond has 21 strikeouts in 15 innings of work this season. The bullpen has been led by senior right-hander Lee Oxendine (Laurinburg, N.C.) and junior right-hander Cameron Falcon (Durham, N.C.). Oxendine is the team’s closer, with two saves, a win and a 1.00 ERA in nine innings of work. He has 14 strikeouts against only one earned run in his seven appearances. Falcon is 1-0 overall in his three appearances, with a 1.29 ERA in seven innings of work. He got the win in the 6-3 victory over Mars Hill, allowing one run in 3 1/3 innings of work.

Senior outfielder Jared Richmond (Fort Smith, Ark.) leads the Pioneers with a .452 average, six home runs and 17 RBI. Richmond has all six homers for Tusculum this season. Junior catcher Sean Cotten (Mooresville, N.C.) is second on the team with a .377 average and 12 RBI. Junior right-hander Tyler Collins (Snellville, Ga.) leads the pitching staff with a 2-1 record and 2.61 ERA in four starts. He has 27 strikeouts in 20 2/3 innings of work.

WINGATE UNIVERSITY

Founded in 1896, Wingate University is a private four-year co-educational institution of 2,159 students offering active learning opportunities through personalized instruction, world travel, career discovery and community service.

Wingate offers more than 40 undergraduate majors in arts and sciences, business, communication, education, fine arts, music and sport sciences. It also offers graduate degrees in business, education, physician assistant studies and sport administration. In addition, the school awards the doctor of pharmacy and the doctor of education degrees.

Bulldog student-athletes compete in 19 NCAA Division II sports. Wingate University has won the South Atlantic Conference Echols Athletic Excellence Award for the past three years.

Wingate University is ranked number three among NCAA Division II Academic All-America® producing schools in the 2000’s with 34 honorees during this millennium. Only Pittsburg State (Kan.) University and Truman State (Mo.) University have produced more Academic All-America® honorees during this time period. Wingate’s 43 Academic All-America® honorees (lifetime) is tops among all SAC schools.

(Wingate University assistant sports information director Hugh Patton wrote this article. Patton is a 2006 Wingate graduate with a B.A. degree in Communication Studies.)