JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – In the first meeting of all-time between the two programs at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex, Shorter scored eight unanswered runs from the seventh to the ninth innings including a three-run home run by Ty Cherry with two outs in the ninth to defeat Carson-Newman 9-8 Wednesday afternoon.
The Hawks (12-22) pick up their first win ever against the Eagles (22-15) while snapping their eight-game road losing streak, their first road win since Feb. 20.
"I don't know how to sum it," Carson-Newman coach Tom Griffin said. "One of the most disappointing losses that I have ever been a part of. Now, Shorter, they battled. They took advantage of our mistakes and you have to give that credit. A lot of these guys that threw hadn't thrown much, but that's okay. That's why they have been practicing all this time. I'm not going to say we gave it away, but yeah I'm going to say we gave it away."
The Hawks scratched the scoreboard first in the top of the fourth inning as two walks and a hit batter loaded the bases. Junior pitcher Philip Pardue (Knoxville, Tenn.) uncorked a wild pitch to score a run and put Shorter ahead 1-0.
In the bottom of the fourth, the Eagles captured a 3-1 advantage. With the bases loaded, junior second baseman Eric Lynch (Boonton, N.J.) was hit by a pitch on the hand to score a run. Junior center fielder Ryan Addington hit a bouncing ball back up the middle that was booted by the Shorter shortstop to plate two more runs.
Senior third baseman Brandon Roberts (Davie, Fla.) ripped a triple to the gap in left-center field that one-hopped the fence. Two batters later, sophomore left fielder Cade Snapp (Seymour, Tenn.) grounded out to shortstop to score Roberts and push the lead to three runs.
The home group extended the lead to 8-1 in the bottom of the sixth inning. Junior shortstop Jimmy Rice (Middlesex, N.J.) singled into left field to score a run and put two runners on for Roberts. The senior launched his ninth home run of the season on the first pitch of his at-bat for a three-run shot to left-center field.
Shorter scored three runs in the seventh inning and another run in the eighth inning with two of the four runs scoring on wild pitches to pull within three runs.
Junior Robert Plohr (O'Fallon, Mo.) retired the first two batters of the ninth inning before loading the bases following a double, a walk and a single. A passed ball made it a two run game. On a 2-0 offering, Ty Cherry clubbed his first home run of the season over the right-field wall to make it a 9-8 contest.
In the bottom of the ninth inning, C-N loaded the bases with two outs and Zach Gentry (Pleasant View, Tenn.) flew out to left field to end the contest.
Shorter stranded 13 runners on base but outhit Carson-Newman 12-9 on the day as Tyler Cates tossed three scoreless innings of relief to improve to 1-2 on the season.
Roberts went 2-for-5 with three RBIs and Snapp chipped in a 2-for-5 day as they combined for four of the team's nine hits on the afternoon.
The Eagles take their longest remaining road trip of the 2016 regular season this weekend to Anderson (S.C.) to challenge the Trojans in South Atlantic Conference action beginning Friday at 6 p.m. The Eagle Sports Network will be in attendance and provide an audio stream on cneagles.com/live beginning 10 minutes prior to first pitch.
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