HARROGATE, Tenn. – Carson-Newman committed five errors in an 8-2 game one loss to Lincoln Memorial before an error in the bottom of the seventh in game two aided the Railsplitters in a 4-3 walk-off win over the Eagles in South Atlantic Conference play Saturday at Lamar Hennon Field.
"We were totally unprepared coming in," Carson-Newman coach Tom Griffin said. "We were lethargic at the beginning. We were not ready on the mound. If you don't have command it's going to come back to bite you against good teams. The miscues were unbelievable as far as missing cuts, throwing to wrong bags and not having a feel. We had guys diving for balls taking their time getting up off of the ground, feeling sorry for themselves."
Carson-Newman (19-19, 7-10) has now lost all eight games on the road in league action while Lincoln Memorial (21-16, 12-5) has won six straight games against the Eagles in the series.
Game One: LINCOLN MEMORIAL 8, Carson-Newman 2
The Eagles committed five errors on the day matching a season high with a March 3 outing against Saginaw Valley State, a game C-N won 12-9.
The first two batters reached in the bottom of the first inning via a single and a hit batter. A wild pitch moved the runners into scoring position with one out. Russell Clark grounded out to second base to score Seth Hunt and put the Railsplitters on top 1-0 in a stanza that LMU stranded the bases loaded.
Three miscues from the Eagles allowed the home team to extend its lead to 4-0. Tyler Adams walked to begin the frame. Following a punch out, Jimmy Rice (Middlesex, N.J.) committed an error to put two runners on. Mason Ewers laced an RBI double down the left-field line to score a runner and put men at second and third. Logan Augustine hit a sacrifice fly to left field as the throw home went to the backstop. Ryan Eberle (Cookeville, Tenn.) uncorked a throw to third base on the play and sailed it into right to allow the third run of the stanza to cross the plate.
With one out and runners at the corners in the bottom of the third, Nate Stinson bounced a single through the left side of the infield to score Eric Kalman and make it a 5-0 contest.
Brett Langhorne (Mechiancsville, Va.) put the Eagles on the scoreboard cranking a 3-1 offering over the wall in right-center field to start the top of the fifth inning. With one out, Trever Lee (Garner, N.C.) singled to left field and moved to second base on a sacrifice bunt.
Augustine started the bottom of the sixth inning with a double down the right-field line. A one-out single to left field by Timmy Wages put runners at the corners. Augustine crossed the plate on a sacrifice fly to center field by Kalman to extend the edge to 6-2.
Tyler Adams doubled to right field to open the bottom of the seventh and scored on a throwing error by Eberle on a trickling ball back to the mound allowed Adams to score and Seth Hunt to end up at second base. Hunt was at third two batters later and scored on a passed ball as the lead for LMU ballooned to six runs at 8-2.
Cade Snapp (Seymour, Tenn.) was the only C-N player with multiple hits going 2-for-4 singling in each of his first two at-bats while Langhorne added a walk to his solo homer in the fifth.
Eberle fell to 2-6 on the season as he worked 6 1/3 innings allowing eight runs, four earned on 10 hits, five walks, two hit batters while striking out seven.
Brandon Jean tossed a complete game winning his fifth straight start improving to 6-3 on the year. The right-hander allowed two earned runs on six hits and one walk while fanning a season-high 10.
No Railsplitter had multiple RBIs as Hunt went 2-for-5 with three runs scored while Augustine, Adams and Stinson each had a pair of knocks.
Game Two: LINCOLN MEMORIAL 4, Carson-Newman 3
Timmy Wages walked on four pitches to start the bottom of the second and moved to second base on a single to center field by Kalman. Muta Crusoe lined a single into left field to score Wages and put the 'Splitters on top 1-0.
Three straight singles started the bottom of the third inning as Russell Clark's knock to left field plated Ewers to expand the advantage to 2-0 after three stanzas.
Carson-Newman tied the score in the top of the fourth as Snapp poked a single through the right side of the infield with one out. Paul Kirby (Goodlettsville, Tenn.) doubled to the left-center field alley to put runners at second and third. A base hit to right field by Greg Jones (Maryville, Tenn.) scored Snapp. Langhorne bounced into a fielder's choice to score Kirby and tie the game at two.
With two outs in the top of the fifth inning, Addington flopped a base hit down the left field line and promptly stole second base. Eric Lynch (Boonton, N.J.) shoveled a single into right field to score Addington and give the Eagles their first lead of the day at 3-2.
C-N starter Will Gardner (Morristown, Tenn.) had retired eight straight when Timmy Wages cranked his second home run of the year clearing the left-center field fence on the first pitch he saw in the sixth to equalize the score at three.
Nate Stinson singled on a bouncing ball into center field to start the bottom of the seventh. Seth Hunt reached on an error as Jones bumped into Langhorne on a bunt attempt. After a strikeout, Augustine lined a single into center field on a 0-2 pitch as the winning run scored with a throw to give LMU a walk-off victory.
Gardner took the loss to fall to 4-3 on the season as the righty went 6 1/3 innings scattering 11 hits and a walk with four earned runs and four strikeouts on the day.
Lynch and Kirby each went 2-for-3 to lead the offense for the Eagles as seven different players tallied the nine knocks on the day.
Each starter for Lincoln Memorial had at least one hit in the game as Ewers and Augustine paced the group with two hits each.
The Eagles and Railsplitters wrap up the series at 1 p.m. Sunday afternoon from Hennon Field with broadcast coverage beginning at 12:45 p.m. on the Eagle Sports Network as the action can be found on cneagles.com/live.
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