JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman scored in six of the eight innings it came to the plate pulling away from Alabama-Huntsville to sweep the regular-season meetings with a 12-8 victory on Wednesday at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex.
"Offensively some of the veteran guys had good days," Carson-Newman coach Tom Griffin said. "Everything gets contagious. Baseball, it gets contagious, because one guy gets on and gets hot, it carries over. That was what happened today. Anytime you can get 12 runs in a game, you should do okay. It was a good day. I thought it was a solid day defensively for us. I thought we communicated well. I thought we played with good energy throughout the game."
Every starter for the Eagles reached base safely at least one time in the game with six players tallying a multi-hit afternoon pounding out 10-plus hits for the fifth affair in a row. Carson-Newman (19-15) has won four straight over Alabama-Huntsville (12-19) after falling in the first three meetings. It is the seventh straight month that the club has been at least .500.
For the second time this season, Henry Jackson (Waxhaw, N.C.) started a home game with a home run pounding a 2-1 offering over the 18-foot high wall in left-center field to put the Eagles on top 1-0 after a frame.
Zach Boze (Gallatin, Tenn.) roped a lead-off double to the fence in right-center field to open up the second inning before moving to third on a sacrifice bunt scoring on a sacrifice fly to center field pushing the margin out to 2-0.
Three straight singles kickstarted the top of the third inning for the visitors. After a bases loaded walk and a strikeout, Will Noles slapped a grand slam over the wall in left field, his first roundtripper of the year, to put Huntsville on top 5-2.
Carson-Newman took its turn in the bottom of the third. After back-to-back walks on nine pitches, Harrison Travis (Soddy Daisy, Tenn.) split the middle infield with a bouncing base hit to make it a two-run game. Two pitches later, Boze launched his eight homer of the year, a three-run shot, down the left-field line to put the home crew back ahead 6-5.
"I knew I was probably going to see an offspeed pitch," Boze said. "Griff told me to see it up and see it at me. They left it in the spot and I put a good swing on it and it went out. I think the biggest thing is maturity. I have seen a lot more college pitching. I am starting to take pitches I should and I'm starting to hit pitches that I should so the zone awareness and swinging at good pitches."
Four pitches into the fourth, Garrett Bodine pushed a ball to right field that went over Jackson's leaping glove over the wall to tie the game on his fifth home run of the year. Mitchell Rottier drew a walk and raced around the bases on a Jackson Lindsey RBI double to left-center field to put the Chargers back ahead 7-6.
With the bases loaded and no one out, a ground out knotted the tally at seven before Jordan Griffin (Ellerslie, Ga.) dribbled a ball through the left side of the infield to plate a pair and put the Eagles on top again at 9-7.
After a one-out home run by Landon Ezzell in the top of the seventh, Matt Parkinson (Whitesboro, N.Y.) shoveled a two-run knock back up the box to push the margin out to 11-8. Boze added an RBI double in the bottom of the eighth to make it a four-run game at 12-8.
Boze led the offense reaching bases four times going 3-for-4 with four RBIs and three runs scored. Parkinson tallied a 2-for-5 day with two RBIs and Griffin added a 2-for-4 with two RBIs day at the office.
The combination of Corey Wilson (Germantown, Tenn.), Hunter Harritan (Huntersville, N.C.) and Jake Wright (Ringgold, Ga.) each tossed two innings combining to allow just one run with six punch outs.
Each Charger reached base safely at least once as the team posted 15 hits as five players had at least two knocks. Lindsey finished with four hits and Noles drove in four runs.
UAH used nine pitchers, six of which allowed runs while the hurlers retired the side in order in the fourth and eighth innings.
The Eagles continue their homestand with a three-game series against Limestone in South Atlantic Conference action starting on Friday at 2 p.m. All three affairs will feature audio and video streams on cneagles.com/live on the Eagle Sports Network.
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