FORREST CITY, Tenn. – Sixth-seeded Carson-Newman (20-25) faltered in a 7-3 decision to fourth-seeded Newberry Saturday afternoon at McNair Field in the 2013 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Baseball Championship.
Cole Cromer struck out eight in seven innings of relief to help cement the win for the Wolves and drop Carson-Newman into the losers bracket.
The Eagles play the loser of the midafternoon game between Tusculum and Lincoln Memorial at 4 p.m. Saturday in an elimination game.
Zach Long (Jefferson City, Tenn.) was two-for-four with two doubles and an RBI to lead the Carson-Newman offense. Evan Kirkpatrick (Jefferson City, Tenn.) went one-for-three with an RBI, while Joe Tipton (Dandridge, Tenn.) was one-for-three with a run scored. Bo Ausmus (Jefferson City, Tenn.) added a pair of hits for the Eagles.
Carson-Newman jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second. Long plated the first run with an RBI double to left center. He would score on an RBI single from Kirkpatrick to give the Eagles a two-run lead.
Newberry answered with two runs in the bottom of the frame to tie it. Eric Barbieri, JoJo Bradley and Jermale Paige hit back-to-back-to-back doubles on three straight pitches, with Bradley plating Barbieri and Paige driving home Bradley to tie it.
The Wolves took the lead in the third when Barbieri connected on his eighth homer of the year, a two-run shot to left to give Newberry a 4-2 lead.
The Wolves added three more in the seventh. Bradley's two-run single made it 6-2, while a Carson-Newman error pushed the advantage to five.
The Eagles scored a run in the top of the eighth to make it a four-run game. Tipton singled, then went to third on a double from Ausmus. An RBI groundout from Evan Jurjevic (New Carlisle, Ind.) plated Tipton to make the final score 7-3.
Cole Cromer got the win to move to 5-2 on the season. He allowed a run on four hits in his seven innings of work, striking out eight without walking a batter, throwing 81 pitches in relief. Alex Britt (Salisbury, N.C.) took the loss, falling to 4-4. He allowed six runs (four earned) on seven hits in six innings, striking out four and walking two.