ANDERSON, S.C. – Senior righthanded pitcher Quinton Yocom (Cable, Ohio) tossed his third career complete game while tallying a career-high 12 strikeouts in a 5-0 win over the Anderson Trojans (6-6, 4-3 South Atlantic Conference) Friday afternoon at Anderson Memorial Stadium.
"Yocom's been solid all year," coach Tom Griffin said. "He attacked. The big difference between this weekend and last weekend was his breaking ball, a lot more consistent with it. Him and [Greg] Jones were in a rocking chair. When you're in that kind of setting as a pitcher, everything you throw is in a great rhythm."
Carson-Newman (7-3, 5-2 SAC) struck for two runs in the bottom of third inning. Sophomore centerfielder Ryan Addington (Cincinnati, Ohio) started the inning with an infield single. Junior leftfielder Joe Tipton (Dandridge, Tenn.) reached on an error to put a pair of men on base. After a sacrifice bunt moved the runners up a bag, sophomore catcher Greg Jones (Maryville, Tenn.) laced a 1-2 pitched down the right field line to score a pair and make it 2-0.
The Eagles added two more runs in the bottom of the fifth. Tipton and Jones drew walks with one out in the inning. Back-to-back RBI singles by senior first basemen Evan Jurjevic (New Carlisle, Ind.) and shortstop Bryan Everhart (Greeneville, Tenn.) brought home Tipton and Jones to give Carson-Newman a 4-0 advantage.
Jurjevic started a two-out rally in the bottom of the seventh stanza as the senior looped a double down the right field line. The next batter, Everhart, drove a 1-1 pitch into right to score Jurjevic and extend the lead to 5-0.
It was Yocom's four career complete game and second this season while he bested his previous high of 10 strikeouts against Catawba on February 6 of this season. The Cable, Ohio native allowed the first of the day for Anderson in the fifth inning after Yocom issued a leadoff walk. The righty notched a strikeout and a double play to work out of the jam. The hurler walked two and allowed three hits on the day.
Everhart extended his hitting streak to nine straight games with his fourth multi-hit game of the year by going 2-for-4 with two RBI.
Jurjevic and Addington also had two hits in the game as each player went 2-for-4 in the game.
"We are trying to jumpstart some swings," Griffin said. "We feel like there are some guys who can be a little tentative at times waiting for the perfect pitch. Sometimes that's what the hit-and-run does it forces them to be a little more aggressive. Our guys were aggressive on the bases and we played great defense."
The series concludes Saturday afternoon with a doubleheader beginning at noon from Anderson Memorial Stadium. Fans can check out cneagles.com/live for a live audio stream of the both games.
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