Eagles sweep doubleheader and series over Cedarville behind offensive outburst on Saturday
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. - Following a tightly-knit opening contest yesterday, Carson-Newman and Cedarville followed a similar tune in the opening game on Saturday afternoon. Before the Eagles offense erupted for their most runs since 2020 to complete the doubleheader and series sweep.
Game 1
Game 1
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 3 |
|
|
1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | X | 4 | 4 | 1 |
Game 2
Game 2
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 1 |
|
|
6 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 3 | X | 23 | 15 | 1 |
VIDEO: Braxton Smith Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. - Following a tightly-knit opening contest yesterday, Carson-Newman and Cedarville followed a similar tune in the opening game on Saturday afternoon. Before the Eagles offense erupted for their most runs since 2020 to complete the doubleheader and series sweep.
"Our coaching staff has done a tremendous job with scouting reports and getting these guys ready. I'm very fortunate. I have great assistant coaches, they work hard, they're passionate about this, and the reason the kids are having success is that we have some really good coaches working with them," head coach Tom Griffin said. "The second game was just one of those games. We were fortunate and blessed to be able to get out of here with a sweep, that's always good."
After playing the first game of the weekend at Lakeway Christian Academy in White Pine, Tennessee, C-N returned to the friendly confines of the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex. Behind a late-game sacrifice fly and stellar pitching, the Eagles nabbed the opener and clinched a series win, 4-3. In the second contest, the offense produced multiple crooked numbers en route to a 23-4 win.
Game One: Carson-Newman 4, Cedarville 3
Freebies aided Carson-Newman's good start in the first game. Back-to-back hit by pitches started C-N's bottom of the first. Cole Nathan (Knoxville, Tenn.) would take advantage, singling in Maddox Greene (Watuga, N.C.) to put the Eagles ahead 1-0. A Cedarville double play would end the first-inning threat.
Small ball helped CU tie the game in the second. With runners on second and third, Cooper Martin laid down a sacrifice bunt to level the game.
The Eagles would regain the lead in the home half of the second. Johno Pierce started the inning with a leadoff triple, and Ryan Bolton (Knoxville, Tenn.) would follow with an RBI single to make it 2-1 C-N. Two more hit by pitches loaded the bases with nobody out, but C-N only scored once in the situation, and it was a 3-1 game after two frames.
Christian Henderson (Clarksville, Tenn.) began to settle in for C-N. He allowed just two baserunners and pitched four consecutive scoreless innings with a strikeout in each. The sophomore finished the day allowing one run on three hits, coupled with five strikeouts in six frames of work.
CU would also find success on the mound as Coen Ball tamed the Eagles' bats. The sophomore right-hander would toss five innings of one-hit baseball and struck out five batters.
Gavin Griner (Holly Pond, Ala.) would replace Henderson at the top of the seventh. It was a rocky start for the freshman hurler as Max Doepker reached on a single before Da'Vonn Stephens would launch a game-tying home run to right field, 3-3. After hitting Martin with a pitch, Griner would find his groove, striking out the next three Yellow Jacket hitters.
After Cedarville tied the contest in the top half, C-N would take the lead in the bottom of the seventh on a game-winning sacrifice fly from Bradley Soto Diaz (Davenport, Fla.) to drive in Greene, 4-3.
Griner would shut the door with another pair of strikeouts in the eighth, followed by a 1-2-3 ninth inning to give the Eagles the win in game one. He finished with five strikeouts in three innings of work after surrendering the game-tying blast.
Game Two: Carson-Newman 23, Cedarville 4
The second game of the afternoon followed a very different path in comparison to the first. C-N was once again taking advantage of pitching miscues from CU. Overall, the Eagles worked 14 walks and were hit by six pitches. C-N scored in five of the six innings, putting up crooked numbers on instances, with six or more runs on three occasions.
Kolton Casson (Benton, Tenn.) got the ball for the Eagles and made quick work, putting the CU hitters down to begin the game.
In the bottom of the first, the first five hitters reached base for C-N. Maddox Greene opened with a walk, followed by a Braxton Smith (Cleveland, Tenn.) single that put runners on the corners. Logan Floyd (Adairsville, GA) followed suit with a base hit to drive in Greene. Cole Nathan (Knoxville, Tenn.) was hit by a pitch, a wild pitch, then brought Smith home and put Floyd and Nathan in scoring position. Bradley Soto Diaz was hit by a pitch to load the bases for an Aiden Gibson (Cleveland, Tenn.) sacrifice fly to push Floyd across, and an Ian Hubbard (Oak Ridge, Tenn.) walk juiced the bases once more and chased the CU starter, Blake Werry, from the contest, 3-0.
Nathan then made a bold move and stole home, electrifying the Carson-Newman faithful. The final runs in the first were scored on a 2-run base hit from Jacob Rogers (Dandridge, Tenn.), 6-0.
Once again, the first five hitters got on in the second inning, beginning with a single from Smith, and then Floyd ripped a double off the top of the wall in left-center to drive in the sophomore outfielder. Nathan got on with a single, after Floyd swiped third, Soto Diaz took advantage with an infield single, 8-0. After a Gibson walk to load the bases, it snowballed out of control for CU, as Johno Pierce (Brentwood, Tenn.) pushed in a run on a walk, a passed ball scored Kylan Hornbuckle (Boaz, Ala.), who replaced Soto Diaz. The Yellow Jackets hit Rogers and Greene in back-to-back at-bats to plate one more, before Smith slotted a single through the left side to bring Pierce in, 12-0.
The Eagles added another run in the fourth as Greene scored when Sean Strittmatter (Scottsdale, AZ) grounded into a double play, 13-0.
Casson was perfect on the mound through three innings before allowing his first and only hit in the fourth inning. The sophomore finished the day with five punch-outs in four innings of work, tossing just 58 pitches.
In a marathon-long bottom of the fifth, C-N plated seven runs on five hits. The first run was brought in by Jameson Van Ness (Knoxville, Tenn.), scoring Alex Ring (Englewood, Tenn.), on an error by the CU infield. Greene delivered a base knock, scoring Wade Carruthers (Phoenixville, PA). Colton Evans (Henderson, KY) drove in pinch-runner Brock Culpepper (Murfreesboro, Tenn.). In the next at-bat, a base hit from Strittmatter pushed Jack Wyatt (Clarksville, Tenn.), followed quickly by a Hornbuckle triple to clear the bases, 19-0. The Eagles batted around, bringing Ring back to the dish, where he doubled to add the extra point in the fifth, 20-2.
The final three runs for C-N came in the sixth, with an RBI single from Smith scoring Tanner Kilgore (Kingsport, Tenn.). Wyatt came in on a fielder's choice from Evans, who later scored after a bases-loaded walk from Ring, 23-2.
C-N used the services of Braxton Roberts (Sweetwater, Tenn.), Denver Slifka (Knoxville, Tenn.), Cameron Butler (Hixson, Tenn.) and McCain Mangum (Ringgold, GA) to get the final nine outs. Roberts picked up a pair of strikeouts, as Butler also notched a K.
The 23 runs were the most runs scored in a game since 2020, when the Eagles plated 20 against Limestone on March 4th. It was the fifth time under Griffin that C-N has scored 20 or more runs.
Carson-Newman is back in action on Tuesday for a non-conference game at Tusculum starting at 2:00 p.m. The game can be heard on cneagles.com/live. Fans can also watch the radio crew at work with a feed of press row on YouTube.
