HARROGATE, Tenn. – Scoring ten unanswered runs over the final four innings, Carson-Newman (21-16, 14-8 SAC) ran away from Lincoln Memorial (23-14, 14-11 SAC) for a convincing 14-3 series opening win Friday night in Harrogate.
The Eagles winning streak over the Splitters extends to six with the seven-run victory. The 14-run performance is the most runs scored by C-N in this series since it had a similar output back on April 15, 2011, winning 14-12 that day. The 11-run win victory is the largest margin of victory in a game against the Railsplitters since a 15-2 win on February 20, 2010.
"It was one of those games," Carson-Newman baseball coach Tom Griffin said. "We've been on the other end of this with LMU. It's a good rivalry, it goes back and forth. Luckily tonight, against a really good starter we were able to put some hits together. The top part of the order had some really good at bats. They have been consistent and done well and tonight was even better. Noah Pridmore was great against a really good lineup. They are a really good club, we are fortunate to get the first one. Tomorrow is going to be an absolute battle with them
The Eagles offense recorded double digit hits for the 16th time by finishing the game with 18 as a team, tied for the most in a game this season.
James Denten and Logan Floyd paced Carson-Newman's offensive onslaught, each recording four hit efforts. They are the first duo to each have 4 hits in a game since Henry Jackson and Micah Genter did it against Alabama Huntsville on Feb. 6, 2022. Both hitters had three RBI as well, but it wasn't just their contributions that led to the 18 hit day. Spencer Williams had three hits and three RBI, Dalton McLain had two hits and three RBI and Spencer Bright had two hits and an RBI as well.
C-N is now 8-2 in series openers this season and has won its last three. Griffin's group has won the series every time it has won the opener this year.
Carson-Newman scored a run in the first by taking advantage of a pair of walks. With two outs and runners on the corners, Logan Floyd (Adairsville, Ga.) swung at the first pitch and drove it into left field to score Dalton McLain (Greeneville, Tenn.).
Two scoreless innings to start from Noah Pridmore (Ooltewah, Tenn.) allowed C-N's offense to increase its advantage in the 3rd. After a leadoff double, James Denten (Mt Prospect, Ill.) singled to right to score Spencer Williams (Seymour, Tenn.) and it was 2-0. After an out, Floyd came through again this time with a RBI double off the wall in center field to increase the Eagles lead to 3-0.
LMU scored for the first time when Carson Boles doubled to center with two outs to make it 3-1 after three frames.
The Railsplitters made things happen with two outs in the fourth. After a walk, Tyler Boyd singled through the left side to plate a run and the C-N lead was trimmed to 3-2.
Floyd continued his stellar hitting day with a RBI single to score Denten in the fifth and the Eagles lead increased back to two runs.
LMU's Cameron Bowen got the run back, launching a two-out solo home run to make it 4-3 after five innings.
Carson-Newman got its first two batters of the sixth aboard and drove them in. McLain singled through the left side and Denten followed with his third hit of the day to plate another run and the Eagles led 6-3 after six frames.
Pridmore completed his sixth and final inning by working around a pair of hits allowed in the frame to blank the Splitters and keep the lead at three runs.
The Eagles continued to run away with the series opener. They loaded the bases with no one out in the top of the seventh inning and scored four times. Spencer Bright began the scoring surge with an infield single that plated a run. Williams followed the line by crushing a ball into the left center field gap for a bases clearing triple, his second triple of the season.
The finishing touches were provided by McLain and Denten once again in the ninth. They went back to back with RBI base hits to allow C-N to score thrice in the ninth.
Pridmore's quality start earned him his fifth win of the season, his most in a season in his C-N career. He scattered seven hits while allowing three runs and striking out one.
Grif Hughes (Knoxville, Tenn.) and Brock Culpepper (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) combined to throw the final three innings, not allowing a base hit between the two and struck out five LMU hitters.
The three-game series continues and wraps up tomorrow at 1:00 pm with a doubleheader. The contests will air with an audio-only stream on cneagles.com/live. The contests can also be viewed on FloSports by going to cneagles.com/flobase
