VIDEO: Gooch Greer and J.D. Cowart Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – The Carson-Newman Eagles (22-15) earned their first three-game series sweep since the first series of 2014 by topping the Winston-Salem State Rams (22-12) 3-1 and 16-4 at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex Saturday afternoon. The Eagles last swept Brevard on February 7 and 8 at home 17 series ago.
Carson-Newman has now also won seven straight games marking the first time an Eagle group has won seven or more since winning eight in a row from February 27 to March 13, 2010.
"It starts on the mound and behind the dish," Carson-Newman coach Tom Griffin said. "J.D. [Cowart] was outstanding as far as working with Vince [Apicella]. They had a good gameplan on attacking their hitters. Our hitters locked in pretty well. It's nice to see it all come together and have this success right now."
Game No. 1 – Carson-Newman 3, Winston-Salem State 1
Carson-Newman loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the third inning. Sophomore rightfielder Ryan Addington (Cincinnati, Ohio) laid down a squeeze bunt up the first base line to score senior catcher J.D. Cowart (Athens, Tenn.) and put the Eagles ahead 1-0.
Cowart hit his first home run since March 30, 2014 against Georgia College with one out in the bottom of the fifth frame well over the leftfield fence to extend the lead to 2-0.
Winston-Salem State tallied its fourth hit of the day in the top of the sixth inning as rightfielder Alex Grubb hammered a solo home run over the fence in straightaway centerfield to cut the Eagles lead to one run.
The Rams loaded the bases with two outs in the top of the eighth inning when Cowart picked off Nathan Steger at third base to end the threat as Winston-Salem State stranded 12 runners in the contest.
Junior centerfielder Joe Tipton (Dandridge, Tenn.) started the bottom of the eighth inning with a double to the wall in right-centerfield. Two batters later, junior third basemen Brandon Roberts (Davie, Fla.) extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a line drive single over the pulled in infield to score Tipton and give the Eagles a 3-1 edge.
Cowart led the offensive attack falling a triple short of the cycle with his first three-hit game of the year going 3-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored.
Junior starting pitcher Vince Apicella (Dillsburg, Pa.) improved to 5-4 while striking out 10 or more the sixth time this season. The southpaw went 6.2 innings yielding just one run on five hits, three walks and 11 strikeouts.
Senior reliever Carson Bryant (Fletcher, N.C.) earned the save for the fourth time in five games working an inning allowing a hit and a walk for his fifth save of the year.
Game No. 2 – Carson-Newman 16, Winston-Salem State 4
Carson-Newman had one hit through the first two innings. In the bottom of the third stanza, sophomore second basemen Eric Lynch (Boonton, N.J.) walked, Roberts singled to left and senior first basemen Evan Jurjevic (New Carlisle, Ind.) to load the bases. Senior leftfielder Bo Ausmus (Jefferson City, Tenn.) launched his 25th career home run, a liner over the fence in rightfield for the second grand slam hit by an Eagle this season to make it 4-0.
"I had talked to Coach Griff before that at-bat," Ausmus said. "I had been kind of struggling seeing the ball. We were really thinking long ground ball to the second basemen and I got a 2-0 count, got the pitch and just it just kind of happened."
In the top of the fourth frame, an error by Carson-Newman starter Jamie Miller (Wardensville, N.J.) allowed Conner Andrus to reach base. After a strikeout, Miller walked Nathan Steger. A groundout put the runners at second and third base with two outs. Third basemen Colby Keene drove a 3-1 pitch over the rightfield fence to cut the Eagle lead to 4-3.
The Eagles added to their lead with 12 runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. It marked the first time since April 17, 2007 against Milligan that the Eagles scored 10 or more runs in an inning as that team scored 10 in the seventh of a 17-9 win. Junior rightfielder Mitch Trzeciak (Charlotte, Mich.) led off the stanza with a single in to centerfield. After a strikeout, Lynch lined a base hit into rightfield to score Trzeciak who was on second after a balk. The next batter, Roberts, laced a double to the alley in left-centerfield to plate Lynch and extend the lead to 6-3. After Jurjevic was hit by a pitch, Ausmus flared a base hit down the leftfield line to plate Roberts. Senior shortstop Bryan Everhart (Greeneville, Tenn.) doubled to leftfield to score Jurjevic and make it a five-run contest. Freshman Austin Kearney (Powell, Tenn.) chopped a ball into centerfield to score a pair of runners and make it 10-3. Lynch delivered another two-run single, a liner to rightfield, to extend the lead to nine runs. Roberts singled to centerfield to score Tipton and Lynch scored on a throwing error and Roberts crossed the plate on a wild pitch. A base hit to left from Everhart plated Jurjevic to make it 16-3.
Michael McNamara homered on the first pitch of the seventh inning to make it a 16-4 final tally.
Miller earned his team-leading fifth victory working five innings allowing eight hits, three unearned runs with two strikeouts and two walks.
Five players had multi-hit outings for the Eagles led by a four-hit day by Roberts, the first of his career, who went 4-for-4 with two RBI and three runs scored.
The Eagles begin a series of eight road games out of their next nine contests beginning Wednesday at Belmont Abbey for a 3 p.m. first pitch against the Crusaders. A complimentary audio stream can be found by visiting cneagles.com/live courtesy of the Eagle Sports Network.
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