Late life not enough in C-N’s 3-1 loss to #21 LR
WINGATE, N.C. – Carson-Newman (31-18) suffered a close loss in the opening round of the South Atlantic Conference Tournament, falling 3-1 to #21 Lenoir-Rhyne (36-11-1) on Friday evening at Ron Christopher Stadium.
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
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WINGATE, N.C. – Carson-Newman (31-18) suffered a close loss in the opening round of the South Atlantic Conference Tournament, falling 3-1 to #21 Lenoir-Rhyne (36-11-1) on Friday evening at Ron Christopher Stadium.
"Gradisar for them was amazing," Carson-Newman head coach Tom Griffin said. "That changeup that he throws is amazing. It's a pitch that you don't see a lot of kids have. He had great competitiveness on the mound, but Kolton (Casson) did the same thing for us. That's why it was a pitcher's duel for a long time. You hate to see either team lose a game like that. You always want opportunities to try and win the game and we had that. I loved the way we competed and stayed with it. That was a game with two really good pitchers battling on the mound."
The loss snaps Carson-Newman's longest winning streak of the season and the fourth-longest active streak in DII.
The Bears scored the game's first run in the second inning. Three singles in the first four batters of the inning made it 1-0 LR. Andrew Stillinger followed Nathan Kidder's two strike single with one of his own to score a second inning run for the Bears.
Carson-Newman had a great chance to respond in the top of the third inning. Carson Cochran (Franklin, Tenn.) led off with a single and Logan Floyd (Adairsville, Ga.) reached by error and runners were on first and third with one out. LR's starting pitcher got out of the jam, getting Aiden Gibson (Cleveland, Tenn.) to bounce into an inning-ending double play to keep LR in front.
Kolton Casson (Benton, Tenn.) did his best to keep the Lenoir-Rhyne bats quiet after the second inning run and got some help from his defense. With runners on first and second, Casson got LR's cleanup hitter to ground into an inning-ending double play to keep the deficit at a run after three innings.
Getting out of that third inning jam was exactly what Gradisar and LR needed. The right-hander retired 13 straight C-N hitters and pitched 1-2-3 fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh innings.
Casson was just as good for the Eagles. The sophomore right-hander allowed just three baserunners, all walks, in the middle innings to keep things at 1-0 after six frames.
The Bears finally broke through for a second run on Casson in the seventh inning. A one-out single and walk put two runners on for Makenzie Wainwright. The reigning SAC Player of the Year doubled to right center field, scoring one run. A great relay by centerfielder Braxton Smith (Cleveland, Tenn.) and second baseman Cole Nathan (Knoxville, Tenn.) set up Cochran to tag out a second runner from scoring to hold the Bears to just one run in the seventh.
C-N's first baserunner since the third inning came on the second pitch of the eighth, as Nathan poked a line drive single to center. Smith followed with a 3-2 single to center and those two moved into scoring position with one out. However, the Eagles were unable to break through. Ryan Bolton (Knoxville, Tenn.) lined out sharply to right field, and after a walk to Floyd, the bases were left loaded.
The Bears scored an insurance run in the eighth, with consecutive hits to begin the frame.
Already with three ninth-inning comebacks this season, C-N was close to achieving another. Bradley Soto Diaz (Davenport, Fla.) roped a 3-2 pitch down the left field line for a leadoff double. The rest of the ninth inning push was done with two outs. Nathan extended the game with at two-strike, two-out single to score Soto Diaz to avoid the shutout.
C-N got the tying run on base when Smith drew a five-pitch walk, putting runners at first and second with two outs. A passed ball eventually moved Nathan and Smith into scoring position, but C-N could not continue the two-out rally and fell short of a late comeback.
Gradisar fired a career-best eight scoreless innings with just one walk and six strikeouts. 74 of his 106 pitches found the strike zone in his eighth win of the season.
Casson suffered his third loss of the year and just the fourth of his career. He allowed just two runs on five hits in seven innings of work. The sophomore finished with four strikeouts as well.
C-N's offense finished with one run on six hits and left seven on base, including five in the last two innings. LR scored three runs on seven hits and left eight on base. All of the Bears' hits came in the three half innings they scored in.
Carson-Newman is now in the loser's bracket and will play seventh-seeded Newberry in an elimination game tomorrow. First pitch for Saturday's elimination game is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. at Wingate's Ron Christopher Stadium. The game will air with a free audio stream available courtesy of the Eagle Sports Network on cneagles.com/live.
