GREENEVILLE, Tenn. – In games that came down to a team's final at bat, Carson-Newman outlasted Tusculum 9-8 in 10 innings in game one before the Pioneers scored two in the seventh to take the nightcap on Sunday at Pioneer Park.
"We were fortunate in that first game coming back," Carson-Newman coach Tom Griffin said. "When you lose a lead like that and then you win it, that's good. We had runners at second with nobody out and we can't move them or score them. We had a misread on a steal. Little things. Instead of a 1-0 lead in the seventh, good clubs have an opportunity to make it a 4-0 game and it's over. Yet we cannot find a way to get those hits in those crucial situations on a consistent basis."
Game one was the ninth time that the two clubs needed extra innings since 1990 with the Eagles winning for the second consecutive decision with the last one coming on April 23, 2016, a 4-2 win in 12 innings to pull the overall tally to 6-3 in favor of the Pioneers.
Carson-Newman (23-17, 8-8) ran its winning streak at Pioneer Park to seven straight, its first winning streak on the road of that length since a span from 1999 to 2002 over Tusculum (16-21, 5-12).
Game One: CARSON-NEWMAN 9, Tusculum 8 (10 Innings)
With runners at the corners and two outs, Kilian Daughtry (Simpsonville, Tenn.) perfectly placed a base hit through the right side of the infield to put the Eagles on top 1-0 after a half inning.
Ryan Dos Santos drew a lead-off walk in the bottom of the first but was still on the first-base bag with two outs. Christian Ortega drilled a 2-0 offering over the wall in left-center field for his fifth roundtripper of the year to put the Pioneers on top 2-1.
Once again in the third inning, the Eagles did damage with two outs as Daughtry hit a sinking liner over the second baseman's glove and into center field to tie the game at two. After a double, Micah Genter (Jasper, Tenn.) hit a ball off of the mitt of the shortstop to plate a pair and put the visitors on top 4-2.
In the bottom of the third, Rudy Fernandez hit his first home run of the season banging a 3-2 pitch over the wall in left field with a man on base to level the terms at four.
The Eagles joined the home run party when Harrison Travis (Soddy Daisy, Tenn.) launched a 0-1 pitch over the wall in left field for his fourth long ball of the season to put his crew back ahead 5-4.
Tusculum mistakes helped the Eagles pad their lead in the eight as the home crew committed two errors. Henry Jackson (Waxhaw, N.C.) lined a single into right field to bring in the first run of the inning before Jordan Griffin (Ellerslie, Ga.) touched home on a balk. With two outs, Zach Boze (Gallatin, Tenn.) singled to left field. Alertly Gunnar Ricketts (Hixson, Tenn.) raced home after an errant throw came to the infield from left to extend the lead to 8-4.
Carson-Newman's bullpen had retired 16 of the last 17 batters before the bottom of the ninth when three straight singles opened the inning and brought in a run. After a pop out, Zane Keener cranked the first pitch he saw over the wall in right field to tie the score at eight and force extra innings.
Ricketts ignited the 10th inning with a base hit that took a wicked hop at third base before motoring around the bases on a left-center field gap shot by Boze to put the Eagles on top 9-8.
In the bottom of the 10th, the Pioneers had the tying run at second and the winning run at first with one out before Jake Wright (Ringgold, Ga.) struck out the final two batters to seal a fifth straight league win.
C-N banged out 15 hits with each of the top five hitters and seven overall tallying a pair of knocks. Daughtry and Genter were the two Eagles with two hits and two RBIs apiece.
Keener and Fernandez each had a pair of hits driving in three and two respectively with Zach Brunet adding a pair of doubles.
Game Two: TUSCULUM 2, Carson-Newman 1
Loading the bases with no one out in the top of the second, C-N settled for just one run on a sacrifice fly to center field by Matt Parkinson (Whitesboro, N.Y.) to go ahead 1-0.
The Eagles went on to strand a runner in scoring position four times over the final six innings. Conversely Tusculum left runners at first and second in the sixth.
Fernandez punished the second pitch of the seventh off of the scoreboard in left field to level the contest at one. After a ground out, Ryan Kavulick doubled to left-center field as a pinch-hitter before a fly out to right was the second out of the inning. Ryan Dos Santos hit a ground ball up the middle that glanced off of the glove of a diving second baseman and into shallow center allowing the winning run to touch home and tally the win.
It spoils Matt Bradley's (Talbott, Tenn.) day on the mound where he went 5 2/3 scoreless innings with seven strikeouts giving up five hits and one walk.
Tyler Harmon tallied his second win of the year going seven innings of one-run baseball fanning eight giving up five hits and three walks.
Genter was the lone Eagle with two hits as the team mustered five total in the game. Keener and Ortega each had two hits with five of the Pioneers eight hits coming in the final two innings.
The Eagles conclude the series on Monday starting at 3 p.m. from Pioneer Park with the contest airing on the Eagle Sports Network with an audio stream available by visiting cneagles.com/live.
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