ANDERSON, S.C. — Senior Derek Long (Jefferson City, Tenn.) fell a double short of hitting for the cycle as he helped lead the Carson-Newman baseball team to a 10-6 win over Anderson on Tuesday afternoon at Anderson Memorial Stadium.
Long went 3-for-5 on the day with a single, a triple, a two-run home run and three RBIs. He has been on a tear in his last four games, going 12-for-16 at the plate.
With the victory, the Eagles extend their winning streak to seven games and improve to 11-6 on the season. Anderson falls to 8-15 overall.
As a team, C-N pounded out 16 hits, which marks the 13th time in 17 games the Eagles have reached double figures in hits this season.
Senior Jeff Lockwood (Knoxville, Tenn.) tallied three hits, including a two-run home run, while Evan Patterson (Knoxville, Tenn.), Mills Rogers (Simpsonville, S.C.) and Wesley Dozier (Cornelius, N.C.) collected two hits apiece in the win.
Ryan Kirkland (Loganville, Ga.), Matt Hill (Moncks Corner, S.C.), Trent Still (Williston, S.C.) and Blake May (Largo, Fla.) produced two hits each to lead the Trojans, who collected 10 hits on the day.
Starting hurler Robby Thigpen (St. Petersburg, Fla.) gave the Eagles a solid 5 1/3 innings of work to pick up the win. The sophomore right-hander surrendered a pair of runs, three hits and struck out four batters to improve to 1-2 on the season.
The Eagles took control of the game early, building an 8-0 lead through 5 ½ innings behind Long’s two-run blast and a run-scoring single.
After the Trojans pushed across a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth to cut C-N’s lead to 8-2, Lockwood put the game out of reach with his two-run home run in the eighth, which was his 10th of the season.
The Eagles return to South Atlantic Conference play this weekend with a three-game series at Tusculum, beginning with a single game on Friday at 7 p.m. at Pioneer Park. C-N and the Pioneers will wrap up the series on Saturday with a doubleheader beginning at noon.
