BELMONT, N.C. – Carson-Newman notched just one hit in the first six innings falling behind 5-0 before a late rally fell short in a 6-4 loss at No. 19 Belmont Abbey Tuesday afternoon at Abbey Yard.
The loss snaps a string of four straight wins for Carson-Newman (4-4) at Belmont Abbey (5-4) with the Crusaders winning for the first time on their home field since the second game of a doubleheader on Feb. 9, 2011.
"I do think a little bit offensively we were a little sluggish," Carson-Newman coach Tom Griffin said. "I know that is cliché but our bats seemed a little slow on a guy that was 83-85. I thought we were a little sluggish on him as far as putting balls in play. They had at least five two-strike hits. We didn't get that. We just wanted to keep it within striking distance because at some point it was going to happen."
Following a strikeout, Colin Rosenbaum laced a double just inside of the third base bag. Two pitches later on a 1-0 count, Nick Beinlich crushed a two-run home run over the left-field wall to the left of the scoreboard to put the Crusaders on top 2-0.
Jakob Rolly pushed a single into center field with one out in the bottom of the fourth inning. Rolly tagged and moved to second base on a fly out in foul ground to right field. Josh Genthe drove a 1-1 offering into the gap in right-center field for a triple to score Rolly and crossed the plate on a base hit to left field from Rosenbaum to extend the edge to 4-0.
A strikeout started the bottom of the fifth inning. On a 1-0 pitch, Kayden Krause drove a fastball over the left-field fence for his third home run of the year making it a 5-0 game.
Carson-Newman had one hit in the game through the first six innings, a base hit to left field by junior Brett Langhorne (Mechiancsville, Va.) with one out in the third.
Senior Eric Lynch (Boonton, N.J.) drew a walk to start the seventh inning. Following a fly out to left field, senior Paul Kirby (Goodlettsville, Tenn.) laced a base hit that took a high hop into left field. The next batter, senior Greg Jones (Maryville, Tenn.) drove a 1-0 pitch over the 375 sign in right field for his second home run of the year for a three-run homer.
After a line out to short, redshirt-sophomore Brendan Campbell (Yardley, Pa.) reached on an error by Rosenbaum and moved to third base on a wild pitch that rattled around the bricks. Langhorne walked and Campbell crossed the plate on a 1-1 wild pitch to pull the Eagles within a run at 5-4.
The first pitch of the bottom of the eighth inning was smacked over the right field wall by Kennan Stanley for an opposite field home run to give Belmont Abbey an insurance run to push the advantage to 6-4.
Crusaders starting pitcher Troy Herterick (1-0) earned the win going six innings allowing one earned run on one hit and one walk while punching out seven.
Rosenbaum finished the afternoon by going 4-for-5 while Krause notched two hits in four times at the plate.
The Eagles mustered three hits on the day and drew three walks while striking out 11 times in the game.
Carson-Newman starts its final nonconference series of the season starting Saturday at noon with a three-game series against Northwood on the docket. Day one is a twin-bill capped by a noon contest on Sunday. Each game will be available on cneagles.com/live with video and audio streams available beginning 10 minutes prior the first pitch with "The Appalachian Electric Cooperative Countdown to First Pitch" on the Eagle Sports Network.
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