Scintillating lumber powers Eagles to sweep of Cavaliers
March 6, 2021

Scintillating lumber powers Eagles to sweep of Cavaliers

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman launched five home runs and scored 32 runs to blow out UVA Wise to complete a four-game South Atlantic Conference series sweep of the Cavaliers with a pair of run-rule wins, 18-5 and 14-4, Saturday at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex.

VIDEO: Highlights

VIDEO: Brandon Roberts Interview

VIDEO: Kilian Daughtry Interview

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman launched five home runs and scored 32 runs to blow out UVA Wise to complete a four-game South Atlantic Conference series sweep of the Cavaliers with a pair of run-rule wins, 18-5 and 14-4, Saturday at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex.

"The offense all day today was really good," Carson-Newman assistant coach Brandon Roberts said. "Tyler Thompson at the top of the lineup had a great weekend. It was hard to keep him off of the bases. We had hard contact from top to bottom and a lot of production from different guys. There were a lot of different guys producing throughout the lineup which makes us steady one-through-nine which was good to see this weekend."

The Eagles combined to hit .607 with 37 hits over the course of 10 innings the plate racking up a 16-for-24 line with two outs and a .576 batting average with runners in scoring position.

Carson-Newman (11-4, 6-2) has homered in eight straight games for the first time since a strong of eight in a row from March 26 to April 8, 2016. The Eagles scored double-digit runs in a doubleheader doing so most recently on March 2, 2019 at Mars Hill.

Between the two outings, 10 different hitters notched at least two hits with 11 knocking in a run. Kilian Daughtry (Simpsonville, S.C.) was one of the leaders with a 5-for-7 line hitting a home run and tying a team-high with six RBIs.

"As a team, we know that if one guy doesn't show up there are seven or eight other guys off the bench or playing that will show up," Daughtry said. "We are deep. We know everybody will step up. I was looking for more fastballs early in the count and trying to drive balls earlier in the count."

Andrew Carpenter (Morristown, Tenn.) homered in both games, the first an Eagle has done that this year, finishing the day 4-for-7 with six RBIs and three runs scored. Tyler Thompson (Gallatin, Tenn.) and Zach Boze (Gallatin, Tenn.) each were only retired once going 10-for-12 at the plate with eight runs scored.

Game One: CARSON-NEWMAN 18, UVA Wise 5 (5 innings)

With one out in the first frame, Tyler Blaum slashed a double into the right field corner coming around to score when Tyler Horvath, the next batter, lined a base hit over shortstop and into left field to put the visiting club ahead 1-0.

Thompson hammered the first pitch of the bottom of the first off the base of the wall in right-center field and came around to score on two ground outs to tie the score at one.

Three walks set the stage for Tyler Campbell with one out in the top of the second. The right-handed hitter dribbled a base hit through the left side of the infield for a base hit to score two runs and give Wise a 3-1 edge.

Over the next three innings the Eagles sent 29 batters to the plate scoring eight times in the second, seven times in the third and two more times in the fourth. Twelve men dug into the batter's box in the third. With five runs already in, Daughtry launched a three-run homer on a 1-0 pitch to left field to make it a 9-3 contest after two innings.

All of the damage the Eagles did in the third came with two outs. Brendan Krob (Justice, Ill.) singled off of the pitcher's hand to bring in a run. Daughtry lined a two-run single to left field and Boze blooped a two-bagger to center to knock in a pair. Carpenter capped the onslaught with his first home run of the season, a two-run shot down the left-field line making it a 16-3 game.

After Campbell answered with a two-run roundtripper of his own, Jordan Griffin (Ellerslie, Ga.) blasted his first long ball of the season, a two-run shot to straightaway center field to make it an 18-5 game.

All told, nine players had one hit and six had a multi-hit effort with eight Eagles knocking in a run. C-N went 9-for-12 with two outs going 10-for-19 with runners in scoring position producing their most runs in a SAC game since scoring 26 in a 14-run win against Anderson on St. Patrick's Day 2018.

Daughtry went 3-for-3 with five RBIs and three runs scored. The bottom three hitters in the lineup combined to go 6-for-8 with four RBIs scoring six times.

This is the second time this year that the team has homered three times in one game after doing so against Lee on Feb. 17 extending the streak to seven games in a row with a long ball.

Campbell went 2-for-3 with four RBIs from the lead-off slot in the lineup while Tyler Blaum added a pair of knocks from the two-hole.

Game Two: CARSON-NEWMAN 14, UVA Wise 4 (7 Innings)

The bats stayed electric with the Eagles batting around in the bottom of the first scoring six times. Matt Parkinson (Whitesboro, N.Y.) and Daughtry shoveled singles to the outfield to plate on run each. Three batters later with the bases loaded, Gunnar Ricketts (Hixson, Tenn.) cleared the bags with a triple off of the wall in center field. He came in to score on a double to right field by Micah Genter (Jasper, Tenn.).

Wise punched back scoring twice in the top of the second stanza. Gabe Wurtz tripled and Caleb Pritchard drew a walk to start the frame. A ground out and a base hit from JoJo Kelliher brought in the duo to trim the score to 6-2.

Carson-Newman scratched across three more runs in the bottom of the second to go on top 9-2. A fielding error in left field and a sacrifice fly brought in the first two before Parkinson cranked his seventh homer of the year to left field on a 1-1 offering.

After Campbell hit his second two-run homer of the day in the fourth to trim it to 4-0, the Eagles did not score again until the sixth. Boze singled in a run to put two runners aboard for Carpenter. The right-handed hitter crushed his second long ball of the day over the left-field fence to push the score out to a 13-4 differential.

Genter led off the seventh by missing a home run by a few feet in left field settling for a double. Charlie Brown (Sevierville, Tenn.) flipped a base knock into right field as Genter beat the throw to the plate to walk it off and give the Eagles a 14-4 run-rule win.

Eight diffenent players had a multi-hit day for the program with Thompson going 3-for-4 with two runs scored from the lead-off spot. Carpenter and Ricketts each drove in three runs.

Mason Mooney (San Jose, Calif.) earned the save in relief firing three scoreless inning with three punch outs. He faced the minimum in each inning thanks to a caught stealing a double play.

Campbell drove in two of the four runs on his long ball with Kelliher going 2-for-3 with an RBI. Jeremiah Ball tossed three shutout innings giving up only three hits.

The Eagles hit the road for the third time this year traveling to Newberry for a four-game league series starting on Saturday at 3 p.m. and concluding on Sunday at 1 p.m.

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