JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Trailing by as many as six runs, Carson-Newman sent the go-ahead run to the plate in the eighth and the tying run to the dish with one out in the ninth before falling 11-9 to suffer its first loss of the year on Tuesday against No. 16 Lee at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex.
"It's nice to see the way they came back and handled it," Carson-Newman coach Tom Griffin said. "Give yourself a chance. That's all you want late in the game. We get the sticker on our paper there with the smiley face. Is that what we are here for? We put ourselves in that position because we weren't playing well enough in certain areas. Offensively, you see the runs we scored but there were a lot of opportunities sitting out there that we let go by called strike threes looking. That can't happen. We have to be better at recognition."
After entering the day hitting .333 as a team with runners in scoring position, the Eagles went 4-for-20 in the contest against the Flames while the pitching staff gave up five hits in 10 tries in the same situation. Carson-Newman (4-1) was 9-for-18 in all other hitting situations.
Lee (2-2) evens the all-time series at 12 winning for the third meeting in a row when it enters the affair in the top 25. The Flames had one extra-base hit through three games before tallying six in Tuesday's contest.
Kilian Daughtry (Simpsonville, S.C.) smashed a two-out single into right field in the bottom of the first to ignite a rally. Three pitches later, on a 1-1 offering, Matt Parkinson (Whitesboro, N.Y.) blistered a ball off of the fence in left-center field to score Daughtry from first and put the Eagles on top 1-0.
After the first man was retired in the second, Isaac Quinones struck out but reached on a wild pitch before Joshua Perez doubled to center field to put runners at second and third. Jared Demkowicz launched a 3-2 pitch off of the C-N sign in right field to give the Flames a 3-1 advantage.
Lee kept rolling in the top of the third inning as the first two batters drew walks to start the frame. Quinones shoveled a base hit into center field and a sacrifice fly pushed the margin out to 5-1.
Carson-Newman got one run back in the bottom of the third putting a runner aboard with one out. Following a fly out, Zach Boze (Gallatin, Tenn.) roped a double into the alley in left-center field to inch the Eagles within three at 5-2.
Once again the Flames erupted in the top of the fourth striking for three more runs to push the margin to 8-2. After a fielding error put the lead-off man aboard, back-to-back doubles brought in a pair on a two-bagger from Dylan Standifer. Quinones added a two-out run-scoring single to center field to swell the margin.
The teams traded runs in their next at bats with Bryce Hanley (Greenback, Tenn.) looping a ball down the right-field line to get a run on the board for the Eagles in the bottom of the fourth. Jake Edwards singled with one out in the top of the fifth to keep the differential at six, 9-3.
In the bottom of the sixth the Eagles loaded the bases with no one out but settled for two runs on a sacrifice fly and a ground out to inch within a 9-5 tally.
Joshua Perez led off the top of the seventh by blasting a 3-1 pitch over the wall in right field to get the Flames into double figures and make it a 10-5 lead for the visitors.
The Orange and Blue loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the seventh inning. Cade Burkey (Knoxville, Tenn.) punched the first pitch he saw of the season through the right side of the infield to score two runs. On the next pitch, Micah Genter (Jasper, Tenn.) ripped an RBI single into left field to claw the crew within two at 10-8.
With two outs and a man at second base, Boze lined a ball down the left-field line to get the Eagles back within a run at 10-9 before Hunter Lane struck out Carpenter to end the threat.
The Flames added insurance after getting a lead-off walk to start the top of the ninth. Luke Hughes made it 11-9 on a sacrifice fly to right field.
In the bottom of the ninth, Genter doubled to left field with one out but two ground outs prevented the Eagles from tying the score falling by two runs.
Carson-Newman pitching fanned 14 batters in the game walking just four but six of the seven hurlers used allowed at least one run. Carson Pack (Andersonville, Tenn.) was the lone exception pitching for the first time in nearly two years needing 11 pitches to strike out two in a scoreless inning.
Four Eagles registered two hits with Boze leading the way with a 2-for-4 day with two RBIs. Daughtry was on base four times scoring three runs and Carpenter touched home thrice as well.
Every Lee hurler allowed a run until Lane recorded the final four outs of the day on two punch outs to notch his second save of the year. The five through nine batters combined to go 10-for-20 with nine RBIs and seven runs scored. Perez went 3-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored and Demkowicz drove in three and scored twice.
The Eagles head back on the road for three games starting on Friday at West Alabama for a 3 p.m. first pitch against the Tigers and former C-N coach Gary Rundles.
- CN -
