Marathon tussle sees Shorter upend Eagles
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – In the longest nine-inning game of the season that featured 20 pitchers between the clubs, Carson-Newman saw a 4-0 first-inning lead evaporate falling 14-10 to Shorter on Tuesday at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex.
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 14 | 12 | 3 |
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4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 12 | 3 |
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – In the longest nine-inning game of the season that featured 20 pitchers between the clubs, Carson-Newman saw a 4-0 first-inning lead evaporate falling 14-10 to Shorter on Tuesday at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex.
"We put a four-spot on them," Carson-Newman coach Tom Griffin said. "You would think it's the last midweek game at home and here we go. We proceed to walk 13 guys and weren't able to control the emotions. We couldn't slow it down. The miscommunication out here was disappointing."
The Eagles walked a season-high 13 batters walking double-digits for the first time in for the first time in 152 games and 1,093 days walking 11 at Limestone on Feb. 2, 2020. Ten of the 11 hurlers allowed at least one free pass other than Clay Murrell (Sevierville, Tenn.) who recorded the final two outs.
Shorter (18-16) ended Carson-Newman's (19-16) five-game winning streak beating the Eagles for the seventh straight meeting dating back to the last win in 2018. Since 2015, Griffin's group was 87-3 when scoring at 10 runs until Tuesday dropping a fifth consecutive contest on a Tuesday.
The Orange and Blue tallied their best first inning of the season scoring four times, the 15th frame of four-plus runs this year, batting around to go ahead 4-0. Each of the first five batters reached with an infield single by Dalton McLain (Greeneville, Tenn.) bouncing a ball to third to score the first run. Nelson Smith (Goodlettsville, Tenn.) lined a single into center field to plate a pair and a fielding error at second base capped the scoring outburst.
Two pitches into the second inning, Norman Leon yanked a 0-1 offering down the left-field line inside of the foul pole for his third homer of the year trimming the tally to 4-1.
Each of the first three hitters reached for Shorter in the third with Thomas Schroeder IV sliced a base hit into right-center field to plate a run but he slid past second base to be thrown out. An error at short allowed a run to cross and cut the margin to 4-3.
Shorter scored three times in the fourth inning thanks to five walks getting a run on a bases loaded base on balls, a fielder's choice and a wild pitch to go on top 6-4.
After the Eagles got a run back in the bottom of the fourth on an error, the Hawks kickstarted a two-out rally in the sixth with an infield single. Justin Barnes singled in the run and came in to score after a failed pick-off attempt to second base throwing the ball into center field to make it an 8-5 game.
Following a strikeout to start the seventh, a base hit and a walk set the stage for Jacob Pager to hit his first homer of the year over the left-field wall to extend the lead to 11-5.
Carson-Newman got a run back in the seventh on a sacrifice fly before Cade Burkey (Knoxville, Tenn.) crushed the first homer of his career on a 3-2 pitch over the left-field wall to cut it to 11-8.
The Hawks answered with three runs in the ninth before C-N scored twice in the ninth and had the tying run in the on-deck circle only to see Tanner Folds get a punch out to end the day.
Eleven different Eagles posted at least one hit with Will Gibbs (Harrisburg, Ill.) being the only one with two hits and Burkey and Smith each driving in two runs.
The top three hitters in the Hawks lineup combined to go 8-for-15 with seven RBIs and seven runs scored led by Pajer going 2-for-4 with four RBIs and two runs scored.
The Eagles hit the road for a three-game South Atlantic Conference series at Anderson starting on Friday night at 6 p.m. against the Trojans. Follow @CN_Eagles on Twitter and Instagram for the latest updates.
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