BRISTOL, Tenn. – Zach Boze and Harrison Travis launched homers and the bullpen allowed just one run over 5 1/3 innings to help Carson-Newman take down King 5-3 on Thursday at the King Baseball Field.
"Any time you win on the road, it's a good day," Carson-Newman coach Tom Griffin said. "I really liked how Noah Pridmore settled down after the first inning and pitched well with his outing. It was good to see Tyler Shaver with no runs and no hits. Hunter Harritan was really good for us. It was good to have Harrison Travis in the lineup with his presence in the middle of the lineup. We made some good defensive plays to shut the inning down between Micah Genter and Jordan Griffin. We made some keys when we had to."
Carson-Newman (12-10) sweeps the regular-season series improving to 10-3 in road affairs against King (9-6) while the Eagles win a seventh straight road game, their longest winning streak since March 11 to April 14, 2011.
It was an ominous start to the day with a walk and a hit batter to start the King half of the first inning. With a runner at third base and one out, a fielder's choice ground out started the scoring giving the Tornado a 1-0 edge after an inning.
The Eagles answered quickly with Zach Boze (Gallatin, Tenn.) lining a 1-1 pitch over the fence in left field for his team-leading sixth home run of the season to knot the tally at one.
Carson-Newman scored twice in the top of fourth inning to go ahead 3-1. After a Boze sacrifice fly, Harris Travis (Soddy Daisy, Tenn.) turned on a 1-1 pitch with one out to take a two-run lead. It was his first home run of the year and first since March 26, 2021 at Wingate.
Over the next two innings, the Tornado tied the score at three with a runner coming home in the fourth on a throwing error before Conner Hyatt lined a single into center field to bring the teams level at three.
Kilian Daughtry (Simpsonville, S.C.) put the visitors ahead for good in the top of the sixth inning lacing a base hit into right-center field to score Gunnar Ricketts (Hixson, Tenn.) from first base who was running on the play and hustled home to beat the throw.
With runners at first and second base, Matt Parkinson (Whitesboro, N.Y.) dropped a bunt up the first base line. Three players waited for the ball to roll foul. It never did and with no one covering home, Andrew Carpenter (Morristown, Tenn.) won the race to the dish and to make it a 5-3 affair.
Eight different Eagles notched at least one hit with no one posting more than one as Boze drove in a pair. Four hurlers combined to fire 4 2/3 scoreless innings to end the game with Grif Hughes (Knoxville, Tenn.) and Hunter Harritan (Huntersville, N.C.) each recording five outs in scoreless innings to get the win and save respectively.
Robbie Scott was the only player in the game with multiple hits going 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored. Brandon Mascle fired five innings and gave up three earned runs.
The Eagles are back in action this weekend with a three-game series starting on Sunday at noon against Mars Hill as the club gets back into South Atlantic Conference play.
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