KODAK, Tenn. – Brayden Coe became the first Carson-Newman pitcher to hurl a nine-inning shutout in six years leading the Eagles to a 4-0 victory over Mars Hill Thursday night at Smokies Stadium in the South Atlantic Conference Baseball Championships.
As a team, coach Tom Griffin's group secured their sixth shutout of the year tying the 1996 and 2006 teams for the single-season program record during the NCAA era. It was the first shutout for the team in the SAC Tournament since a 3-0 win over Newberry on April 29, 2016, a span of 14 games and 1,823 days.
Coe yielding three hits, one walk and one hit batter on the day fanning nine to become the first C-N hurler since Vince Apicella on April 28, 2015, 268 games and 2,190 days ago, to fire a complete game, nine-inning shutout. The Bridgeville, Pa. native allowed only one man to reach scoring position stranding Austin Treadway in the third.
"I was able to fill it up early and often," Coe said. "I felt that I had all of my pitches working and I was able to get the curveball over early put them away with the slider. When it's an even 0-0 game, you are pressing to get those zeroes to get back in here and let your offense do work but when they get ahead with those two runs early it allows me to settle in and let my defense work."
Carson-Newman (25-14) advances to the double elimination bracket beating Mars Hill (17-22) in the postseason for the fifth time in seven tries. The club has won six of the last seven in the series.
"The other part of this thing was defense," Griffin said. "Defense was really solid throughout the game with double plays early even Coe fielding his position. He looked like that typical left tackle that goes to the combine and you want to draft him. He's light on his feet. It was a very impressive outing. In these things if you can get a complete game and not use a lot of pitchers that's really big. Proud of him and happy for him."
Eagles gain an early lead, thanks to @whtravis2
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CNathletics) April 22, 2021
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Eagles secure 6th shutout of 2021.
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CNathletics) April 22, 2021
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Gunnar Ricketts (Hixson, Tenn.) extended his hitting streak to five games by slicing a double into the left-center field alley with one out in the bottom of the first. After a ground out, Harrison Travis (Soddy Daisy, Tenn.) flared a single to left-center to open the scoring and put the Eagles ahead 1-0.
Carson-Newman took advantage of a Mars Hill error to push the margin out to 2-0 in the second. Following a lead-off walk, pitcher Andrew Hazell airmailed a sacrifice bunt attempt putting men at the corners with no one out. Charlie Brown (Sevierville, Tenn.) hit a sacrifice fly to center to bring in the game's second run.
In the bottom of the fifth, the Eagles added two more. Ricketts started the stanza with a hustle double to left-center field scoring on a base hit by Henry Jackson (Waxhaw, N.C.). Two batters later after a failed pick-off attempt that moved Jackson to third, he scored on a ground out from Matt Parkinson (Whitesboro, N.Y.) to extend the edge to 4-0.
Ricketts led the offense going 2-for-4 with two runs scored while Jackson added a pair of knocks as the Orange and Blue finished with five overall.
Hazell was hit with the loss allowing four runs, three earned, on five hits and three walks. AJ Chacon tossed three scoreless innings of relief. Zach Weaver was the only hitter to reach base safely twice in the game singling in the fourth and walking in the seventh.
The Eagles take on second-seeded Tusculum on Friday at 2:45 p.m. to open up double elimination play with games airing on cneagles.com/live for the live video and audio streams or through the South Atlantic Conference app using your Roku, Amazon Fire or Apple TV. Ticket information can be found here with daily tickets and entire weekend packages available for purchase.
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