JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – After going down early, Coker (29-18, 18-10 SAC) scored eight consecutive runs and held on late to win the series opener against Carson-Newman (23-22, 16-12 SAC) on Friday afternoon at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex.
"What a great job by Coach Fico and Coker," Carson-Newman head baseball coach Tom Griffin said. "They did a great job getting their guys prepared for this game. Their pitcher Diaz did a phenomenal job showing grittiness and toughness after giving up three in the first inning on the road. Hats off to him and you give credit to that group for hanging in there and battling and chipping away. Got some things going there in the ninth and that's all you want to do have an opportunity late in the game to have a chance to tie or win it and we did. The mistakes we made today, were ones we hadn't made all year."
Logan Floyd (Adairsville, Ga.) finished three for five at the plate, driving in four of C-N's five runs. He has 14 multi-hit and 11 multi-RBI games this season.
The Eagles struck in the first inning on back-to-back two-out knocks. Logan Floyd (Adairsville, Ga.) hit a flyball to right field that dropped in for a two-run single to start the scoring in Carson-Newman's favor. Next batter, Will Gibbs (Harrisburg, Ill.) first pitch swinging hit a ball off the right field for his second career triple to extend it to a three-run lead.
Coker had opportunities to trim into the deficit, starting in the third inning. Runners were left at second and third base as Noah Pridmore (Ooltewah, Tenn.) got a groundout to end the inning.
Back-to-back walks and a single loaded the bases with one out. Ick Cirino drew a walk to drive in a run to get Coker on the board. Pridmore was able to limit the damage by getting back-to-back fly outs to keep the Eagles ahead 3-1 after four innings.
The Cobras got within a run on a Kody Hanna single into left field to make it 3-2. Once again though, Pridmore battled and got a groundout and a strikeout to strand two more runners in the 5th inning.
Coker took the lead in the sixth inning. Jaylen Mack hit a two-out two-run home run over the left field wall to make it 4-3.
Brock Culpepper (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) navigated his way through a scoreless seventh inning, by stranding the bases loaded after hitting two batters and walking another.
The Cobras would finally make C-N pay for allowing baserunners. An infield single followed by a walk and an error loaded things up for Hanna. The first baseman crushed his second home run of the year over the right field wall for a grand slam to make it 8-3.
During this stretch in which Coker scored eight consecutive runs, Carson-Newman was held to just one hit in innings three through seven.
The Eagles answered back in the bottom of the eighth thanks to more impressive hitting from Floyd. The freshman went opposite field with a two-run shot to bring C-N within three after eight innings.
Griffin's group didn't go down easily in the 9th inning. Carson Cochran drew a leadoff walk to start the frame. Singles from Dalton McLain (Greeneville, Tenn.) and Cole Nathan (Knoxville, Tenn.) would load the bases to bring the game-winning run to the plate. Floyd hit into a fielder's choice to end the game.
Aaron Diaz threw eight innings and allowed just three earned runs while striking out a season-high seven batters. Tyler Satterly recorded his third save of the season with the scoreless ninth inning.
The series continues tomorrow afternoon with a doubleheader starting at 12:00 p.m. The contests will air on the Eagle Sports Network with video available on FloSports with a paid subscription and an audio-only stream on cneagles.com/live.
