Eagles drop high-scoring affair in series opener with No. 10/6 LR
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – No. 10/6 Lenoir-Rhyne (7-1, 3-1 SAC) posted an eight-run first inning and held off two Carson-Newman (8-3, 1-3 SAC) comeback attempts to win 13-10 in the series opener on Friday afternoon at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex.
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
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8 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 13 | 12 | 2 |
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0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 9 | 2 |
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – No. 10/6 Lenoir-Rhyne (7-1, 3-1 SAC) posted an eight-run first inning and held off two Carson-Newman (8-3, 1-3 SAC) comeback attempts to win 13-10 in the series opener on Friday afternoon at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex.
"That's a good club," Carson-Newman head coach Tom Griffin said. "It's a good offense top to bottom. There's power and speed in the lineup and their arms were quality. To be down that early, a lot of clubs would struggle to get back in it. It just seemed like every inning we had some sort of pressure. In a game like that, you just want a chance at some point to feel like you have a chance to win with a swing and we did. Credit to LR, when we got close they tacked on runs and their pitching finished it at the end."
The loss is C-N's first at home and ends the longest active home winning streak among SAC teams.
The Bears took advantage of six first inning freebies to put up an eight spot. Three walks loaded the bases for Seth Christmas, who clobbered an 0-2 pitch over the left field wall for a grand slam.
LR's final four runs of the first all came with two outs. After two more walks, Drew Beard poked a single through the left side to make it 5-0. They finished the inning with back to back RBI singles from Lleyton Lackey and Mackenzie Wainwright to cap an eight-run first inning that featured just four hits.
Carson-Newman's first response was a sixth-run second inning. Three walks loaded the bases and the Eagles would do all their damage in the frame with two outs. Jacob Rogers (Dandridge, Tenn.) drew a bases loaded walk to start the two-out scoring.
Two pitchers later, Maddox Greene (Deep Gap, N.C.) ripped a double down the left field line to make it 8-3. Braxton Smith (Cleveland, Tenn.) and Logan Floyd (Adairsville, Ga.) followed with consecutive RBI singles to make it an 8-6 game after two frames.
Denver Slifka (Knoxville, Tenn.) tossed consecutive zeros and retired seven straight to keep things a two-run game after three frames.
Christmas delivered another big swing for the Bears in the fourth, demolishing his second home run of the day over the left field wall to make it 9-6.
LR's lead extended to 11-6 after a two-run fifth. Beard singled and a bases loaded walk scored the two runs in the inning.
Michael Burnley pitched well for the Bears out of the bullpen. Pitching out of the pen since the third, he tossed four straight scoreless innings to silence the Eagles bats.
C-N would finally get to Burnley in the seventh. Greene led off with a double, and later scored on a Smith groundout to make it 11-7. Floyd and Nathan would follow and reach base for Bradley Soto Diaz (Davenport, Fla.). The senior newcomer picked a great time for his first C-N home run, poking a fastball over the right field wall to make it a one-run game after seven innings.
The Bears would get an insurance run in each of the final two innings. An Andrew Stillinger RBI single and a sac fly extended the advantage to three, with C-N down to its final three outs.
Carson-Newman applied game pressure into the bottom of the ninth. Smith singled and Floyd was hit by a pitch to put two runners on with nobody out. The Eagles had three at bats with the tying run at the plate, but came up empty in all three opportunities. Two strikeouts and a pop out ended the ninth inning threat.
Higgins suffered his second loss of the year, walking six and allowing eight runs while recording just two outs.
Slifka and Wilson each tossed 3 1/3 innings out of the bullpen. Wilson struck out three and gave up zero earned runs.
Floyd extended his on-base streak to 46 straight games, reaching three times in defeat.
Soto Diaz's home run extended his hitting streak to nine games. Him and Smith led the way each recording a career-high three RBI.
Burnley's five relief innings earned him his second win of the season.
Jack Renaud pitched two scoreless innings to seal his second save of the year.
Four different Lenoir-Rhyne hitters drove in multiple runs, led by Christmas' three-hit and five-RBI day.
The series continues and concludes tomorrow afternoon. First pitch for the doubleheader tomorrow is set for 12:00 p.m. A live stream of the game is available with a subscription to FloSports at cneagles.com/flobase. 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.
