Early and late offense helps No. 24/11 C-N crush Tusculum
March 18, 2025

Early and late offense helps No. 24/11 C-N crush Tusculum

No. 24/11 Carson-Newman (20-6) matched its season-high in hits with 17 in a 16-6 run-rule win in eight innings over Tusculum (8-18) on Tuesday at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex.

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JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn.  – No. 24/11 Carson-Newman (20-6) matched its season-high in hits with 17 in a 16-6 run-rule win in eight innings over Tusculum (8-18) on Tuesday at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex.

Carson-Newman compiled 17 hits to score 16 runs, tied for the most hits in a game this season and the third-most runs in a game this season.

"The offense put a lot of runs up early," Carson-Newman head coach Tom Griffin said. "That was really good to see but I just didn't think it was a clean game for us. I don't think it was as good as we needed to do. If you don't play well and you win, that's a good sign. It was just a vibe and a feel that we weren't clean like we needed to be."

The balanced offensive attack was led by Logan Floyd (Adairsville, Ga.) who had a team-high three hits while also driving in two runs. Five other Eagle hitters had multi-hit days with every starter having at least one hit. Including Floyd, four C-N hitters drove in exactly two runs, with Cole Nathan (Knoxville, Tenn.) and Tanner Kilgore (Kingsport, Tenn.) joining Floyd as the only ones to have multiple hits and RBI.

The Eagles have won five of the last seven meetings against Tusculum and are the third team in the Southeast Region to reach the 20-win mark.

As it has done quite often this season, C-N jumped on its opponent in the first inning. The first three hitters of the inning reached, capped off by a Logan Floyd (Adairsville, Ga.) single and an error that scored two runs with nobody out. Two batters later, Nicholas Castellana (Lancaster, NY) double down the right field line to score Floyd. C-N's fourth and final run in the inning came with two outs. Braxton Smith (Cleveland, Tenn.) singled in Castellana with a base hit to right and the Eagles batted around in the opening inning.

Tusculum would answer with a two-run second frame, it scored two runs on just one base hit, taking advantage of a C-N error to trim the margin to 4-2.

The Eagles would get those two runs right back. Floyd doubled into the left-center gap and Tanner Kilgore (Kingsport, Tenn.) plated a run on a fielder's choice to make it 6-2 C-N after two frames.

After TU scored once in the third, Carson-Newman would break the game open with a five-run third inning. Ryan Bolton (Knoxville, Tenn.) doubled to start the inning and scored the first run off an error. Kilgore slapped a single into right field to score a run and Aiden Gibson (Cleveland, Tenn.) followed later in the frame with a RBI single as well to make it 9-3. Kilgore later scored on an error and Cole Nathan scored the fifth run of the frame on a sacrifice fly and it was 11-3 Eagles after three innings.

The Pioneers would score one run in each of the fourth and fifth innings as well on RBI singles to make it a 12-5 game.

TU's Mason Huffstickler silenced C-N's bats for three innings, holding the Eagles to just one baserunner through innings five through seven.

Trailing by six, TU was threatening to rally in the eighth inning. Mark Salicco (Waxhaw, N.C.) escaped the jam by getting Ryan Ortega to hit into a line drive double play and Jude Morton to ground out to allow just one run to score in the eighth.

The Eagles offense found their footing again in the eighth inning. On a 2-2 pitch to leadoff the inning, Nathan launched a fly ball over the left field wall for his first career home run.

"It took long enough," Nathan said. "I've been waiting for that one. I know it's been coming, I've been swinging it well. Just glad it happened against Tusculum."

C-N would get more baserunners in the frame and after a RBI groundout, it was Luke Goforth's (Blacksburg, Va.) to go yard. The graduate student crushed his second career home run over the left field wall to end the game.

Freshman pitcher Christian Henderson (Clarksville, Tenn.) earned his second career win by tossing four relief innings, allowing just two earned runs on five hits with a strikeout.

Braxton Roberts (Sweetwater, Tenn.) and Salicco each threw scoreless innings out of the bullpen.

Tusculum starter Payne Ladd suffered his first loss, allowing six runs on seven hits in one inning on the mound.

Carson-Newman returns to South Atlantic Conference action on Friday in three-game series at Anderson. First pitch for Friday's series opener is set for 4:00 p.m. The games will air with a free audio stream available courtesy of the Eagle Sports Network on cneagles.com/live

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