JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Newberry sent 11 men to the plate and scored six times in the third inning of a 7-4 win over Carson-Newman in the first game of a three-game South Atlantic Conference series Friday evening at the Smith Road Complex.
"There's a lot of credit to them," Carson-Newman coach Tom Griffin said. "They are a scrappy bunch. They have a good approach at the plate for what their strengths are and they do it very well. They are going to compete and battle and put balls in play. The big inning starts with a walk. In this game, freebies, whether walks or errors, create runs."
Carson-Newman (10-14, 2-5) loses for the sixth straight road game this year and the fifth straight time at Newberry (14-12, 3-4) while falling to 1-9 in away games in 2017.
Ryan Addington (Cincinnati, Ohio) walked to start the top of the third inning and stole second base two pitches later. A ground out moved the senior to third base. With two outs, Paul Kirby (Goodlettsville, Tenn.) pushed a ball down the first base line that hit the bag and skipped over the mitt of Trejon Smith into right field for a run-scoring knock to put the Eagles ahead 1-0. The knock extended the senior's hitting streak to a season-high 16 games.
C-N starting pitcher Will Gardner (Morristown, Tenn.) faced the minimum in each of the first two frames and retired the lead-off man in the bottom of the third. Nine straight batters reached safely on five hits, an error, a walk and two hit batters. Danton Hyman put the Wolves on the board with a two-run single to right field. A fielding error by Eric Lynch (Boonton, N.J.) at second base allowed two more runs to cross the plate. A bases loaded hit batter and a single to left by Jeff Sneed capped a six-run stanza to put the home club ahead 6-1. The inning ended on a double play as Cade Snapp (Seymour, Tenn.) caught a fly ball in left field and threw out Trejon Smith at the plate.
The Eagles responded with a three-run top of the fourth to cut the deficit to two runs at 6-4. Trever Lee (Garner, N.C.) doubled down the left-field line and scored on a two-base hit by Brett Langhorne (Mechiancsville, Va.). Langhorne stole second and following a walk he scored on a sacrifice fly to left field. Lynch drove in Jimmy Rice (Middlesex, N.J.) but was thrown out at the plate on a single by Snapp to end the rally.
Gardner retired the first two Wolves of the fourth before three straight two-out singles as Daymon Totherow bounced a hit into center field to get a run back and make it 7-4 Newberry.
The Eagles saw three players tally a two-hit day as Lynch, Kirby and Lee all recorded a pair of knocks. Gardner threw 7 2/3 innings in the game and 142 pitches striking out four and walking three allowing seven runs, four earned on 12 hits.
Every starter with the exception of Ben Herring recorded at least one hit on the afternoon as Hyman went 3-for-5 with two RBIs and two runs scored.
Zack Kelly (4-2) picked up the win for Newberry going 6 2/3 innings allowing four earned runs on nine hits and four walks picking up nine strikeouts.
The Eagles and the Wolves decide the series Saturday afternoon with a twin-bill slated to begin at 1 p.m. from the Smith Road Complex. Broadcast coverage will be live all day long on cneagles.com/live 15 minutes prior to the first pitch through the final out on the Eagle Sports Network.
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