JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Despite stranding 14 men on base, Young Harris surged for six runs in the top of the ninth to take down Carson-Newman 10-4 Wednesday at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex.
"A couple guys did a good job of limiting the amount of runs," Carson-Newman coach Tom Griffin said. "That's a positive. You hate to see yourself get in it but now that you're in it, what are you going to do to get out of it? They made good pitches and the defense was good behind them. We're still in the ball game. It came down to that our arms weren't good enough to compete and throw enough strikes."
Ethan Goforth (Blacksburg, Va.) finished a triple shy of the cycle going 3-for-5 at the plate while Tyler Thompson (Gallatin, Tenn.) extended his hitting streak to five games going 1-for-4 with his blast coming in the eighth.
Young Harris (20-10) has taken all four meetings with Carson-Newman (20-13). The Mountain Lions are 14-3 over their last 17 games while the Eagles fall to 4-10 over their last 14 outings.
Carson-Newman struck first with the lumber of Goforth.The junior pummeled a 2-1 offering to lead off the bottom of the first inning over the wall in left field for his ninth blast of the season.
Who loves leadoff bombs?
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CNathletics) March 27, 2019
We love leadoff bombs! @ethang_3 tanks a leadoff tater to left center.
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Tucker Greer drew a five-pitch walk to start the top of the third inning. Four pitches later on a 2-1 offering, Zavier Lushington drove a pitch over the fence to the left of the scoreboard in right field for his seventh homer of the season to put the Mountain Lions on top 2-1.
The Mountain Lions loaded the bases with one out in the top of the third inning. Following a strikeout, Dahlton Cash drew an eight-pitch walk to stretch the margin to two runs at 3-1.
A hit batter and a walk started the bottom of the fifth inning for the Eagles. Two batters later, John Sharpe (Franklin, Tenn.) smashed a single back up the middle to cut the deficit to a run at 3-2.
A double down the left-field line and a base hit that split the left side of the infield put men at the corners with no one out. Tristin Smith hit into a 6-4-3 double play to add insurance bringing in Cole Jackson pushing the advantage to 4-2.
Young Harris pitching retired nine batters in-a-row as McLain Harris was ahead 0-2 when Thompson took flight blasting his seventh roundtripper of the season to left field to make it a one-run game again, 4-3.
BYE BYE BASEBALL!!!! @TylerThompson47 tanks an 0-2 pitch down the left field line and C-N is within a run.
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CNathletics) March 27, 2019
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The Mountain Lions exploded in the top of the ninth inning sending 12 men to the dish in the stanza scoring six times to swell the bulge to 10-3. Corley Reynolds tallied a two-run double and Lushington produced a two-run single as the big blows in the inning.
Dom Leo (Knoxville, Tenn.) added a one-run RBI double to right-center field in the bottom of the ninth inning. C-N stranded runners at second and third base.
Nine hurlers found their way to the mound for Griffin's group with five firing scoreless outings. Young Harris used eight pitchers on the day, four throwing scoreless efforts led by two shutout innings from Tucker Daniel and Matt Rogers.
Jackson and Washington each had three hits with Lushington going 2-for-5 with four RBIs as Young Harris racked up 12 hits.
The Eagles get back into South Atlantic Conference action this weekend with a three-game series against Anderson starting Friday night at 6 p.m. All three games will air online by clicking on cneagles.com/live on the Eagle Sports Network.
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