JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – The Carson-Newman Eagles (14-14, 9-12 South Atlantic Conference) had the tying run at the plate in the bottom of the ninth inning after trailing by seven runs on two occasions Sunday afternoon at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex, but the Coker Cobras (9-16, 4-11 SAC) captured an 11-7 victory.
"They battled and that's all you ask," Carson-Newman coach Tom Griffin said. "We just mentioned that you just want a chance for one swing to tie it or win it. The hitters did a good job. Some big hits here at the end to give us a chance and that's all you can ask for is that the kids continually battle."
Coker lit the scoreboard in the top of the first inning for the second straight game. A fielding error by senior first basemen Evan Jurjevic (New Carlisle, Ind.) allowed Bryson Conner to reach safely. After a two-out walk, Sammy Song ripped a ball to the rightfield corner to plate Conner and give the Cobras a 1-0 edge.
After the first two men were retired in the home half of the first, senior leftfielder Bo Ausmus (Jefferson City, Tenn.) lined a double down the rightfield line. Jurjevic walked on eight pitches to extend the inning. Senior shortstop Bryan Everhart (Greeneville, Tenn.) hit the ninth pitch of the at-bat into centerfield to score Ausmus and tie the score at one.
The Cobras sent eight men to the plate in the top of the third inning as the first three men reached to load the bases. After Carson-Newman starting pitch Vince Apicella (Dillsburg, Pa.) struck out the next two batters, a five-pitch walk to Song allowed the go-ahead run to score. Jack Leech crushed a ball off of the wall in right to bring home two more runs and make it a 4-1 contest.
Jurjevic brought home junior centerfielder Joe Tipton (Dandridge, Tenn.) will a single back up the middle to cut the deficit to 4-2 in the bottom of the third.
A two-run double from Michael Orlowski and a double to rightfield by Conner extended the advantage for Coker to 7-2 in the top of the fourth inning.
After plating a run in the top of the fifth inning, Conner clubbed his first home run of the season, a one-out shot over the left-centerfield fence to put the Cobras ahead 9-2.
A leadoff double down the leftfield line by Jurjevic started the Carson-Newman sixth stanza. Two batters later, senior rightfielder Cody Fox (Seymour, Tenn.) blasted his second home run of the season over the right-centerfield fence cutting the deficit to five runs.
In the top of the ninth inning, a bases loaded, one-out single into centerfield by Will Winslow added insurance for the Cobras to get the lead back to seven runs at 11-4.
The Eagles batted around in the bottom of the ninth inning bringing three runs across on RBI singles by Tipton, junior third basemen Brandon Roberts (Davie, Fla.) and Ausmus to make it 11-7. Everhart stepped to the plate representing the tying run with the bases loaded but popped out in foul territory to the Winslow, the Coker first basemen.
Apicella lost for the fourth time in as many starts going 3.1 innings while allowing seven runs, six earned on seven hits, four walks and four strikeouts.
Five Eagles had multi-hit days led by Tipton's 3-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored and Jurjevic's 3-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored.
Coker starting pitcher Dallas Baldwin set a career-high with nine strikeouts while going 8.2 innings yielding seven earned runs on 11 hits and two walks on 152 pitches.
"Coker was a little upset with [what] happened yesterday," Griffin said. "There was a little bit more fight in them obviously to come away with this so you have to give them credit and their hitters credit for the job they did."
Carson-Newman makes its final road trip of March Tuesday with a journey to King (Tenn.) for a 3 p.m. first pitch against the Tornado. The Eagle Sports Network will provide a free audio stream of the contest by visiting cneagles.com/live.
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