JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Tusculum launched four home runs, tied for the most allowed by the Eagles, overcoming an early 2-0 deficit handing Carson-Newman its fourth consecutive home loss in a 9-5 non-conference affair Wednesday at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex.
"This is my fault not being able to get these guys to compete," Carson-Newman coach Tom Griffin said. "Tusculum, coach Steele and his staff did a much better job than me. They didn't return a lot of guys but they felt they were going to get this game. They had more fight to them. We are having some poor at bats in the early and middle part of that game uncharacteristically. Where is that I hate losing more than I love winning?"
Carson-Newman (10-7) has now dropped seven of the last nine meetings with Tusculum (8-7). The Eagles lost four total home games in 16 tries a year ago and has matched that mark over the past week losing four in a row for the first time since 2019.
Henry Jackson (Waxhaw, N.C.) drew a walk on four pitches to begin the ball game before moving to second base on a ground out. On a 1-2 pitch, Kilian Daughtry (Simpsonville, S.C.) shot a base hit to right field to open the scoring putting the Eagles ahead 1-0.
It was a similar tale in the second with Zach Boze (Gallatin, Tenn.) drawing a walk to start the second frame going to second base on a sacrifice bunt. On the first pitch he faced in his career, Luke Goforth (Blacksburg, Va.) flipped a double down the right field line just out of the reach of the right fielder to make it a 2-0 lead.
Tusculum fired back to take a 3-2 lead in the top of the third inning behind one big swing. Dylan Symonds led off the inning with a single and with one out Zane Keener drew a walk. Wes Reynolds ambushed the first pitch he saw driving it over the 18-foot high wall in left to put the visitors ahead.
Reynolds once again did damage in the seventh inning taking a 1-1 pitch over the wall in left field with two outs. After a base hit from Luis Ezra, Christian Ortega cranked a 0-2 out of the yard to left field to give the Pioneers a four-run cushion at 6-2.
The Eagles got a run back in the bottom of the seventh as Boze led off the inning with a solo homer out of the yard to left-center field inching the home crew within a 6-3 tally.
With one out in the bottom of the eighth, Daughtry blasted his fourth homer of the year clearing the fence in left-center field on a 1-1 pitch. Boze stepped in with a runner at third base and two outs and came within inches of tying the game hitting one off of the top of the fence in left to make it a one-run game but he was thrown out at second base to end the inning of a 6-5 game.
Tusculum pushed the lead back out to four runs in the top of the ninth with Luis Ezra cranking a two-run homer to center field and Zach Wilson bringing in a run after a dropped fly ball put a man at second base putting the Eagles behind 9-5.
Drew Sliwinski hit the first batter of the bottom of the ninth before fanning the final three batters of the day to close out the victory. Gage Newsom took home the win firing three scoreless innings.
The Eagles tallied seven hits overall on the day with Jordan Griffin (Ellerslie, Ga.) producing his 12th multi-hit game of the year extending his hitting streak to 16 games. Boze went 2-for-3 with two RBIs.
Reynolds finished the day going 3-for-5 with four RBIs with three RBIs. Ezra chipped in three knocks and Will Samuelson also had a trio of pokes.
The Eagles finish out their 13-game homestand this weekend with a four-game series against Quincy starting on Friday at 2 p.m. with broadcast coverage airing on both audio and video platforms by visiting cneagles.com/live for the Eagle Sports Network's broadcast.
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