Eagles' late errors almost costly in win over Maryville, 5-4

Eagles' late errors almost costly in win over Maryville, 5-4

MARYVILLE, Tenn. - The Carson-Newman Eagles overcame three late unearned runs and scored two runs in the top of the ninth to beat Maryville, 5-4, on Tuesday evening at Maryville College Scotland Yard.

C-N moves to 9-12 on the year with the win. It has won three of four.

The Eagles led 3-0 through seven innings but allowed three unearned runs in Maryville's final two at-bats to give the Scots life and a shot at the win in the ninth.

C-N freshman Cody Fox singled to lead off the ninth and scored on an RBI single from Evan Kirkpatrick for the go ahead run. Sophomore Phillip Duncan walked and stole second to move himself into scoring position. He scored when catcher Mason Guymon reached on error by Maryville second baseman Blake Gentry to give the Eagles a 5-4 lead.

Senior Kyle Koeneman pitched out of a jam in the ninth to pick up his second save. He allowed a run on a single and a walk to make things interesting, but induced a fly ball and a groundball baxk to himself to end the game.

Maryville used a single by Sam Waltermyer and an error by the Eagle second baseman Trace Rogers to put runners in scoring position. Cory Kopec promptly singled to right field driving in Garrett Gresham who had pinch run for Waltermyer. Blake Gentry sacrificed both runners into scoring position before Mikee Moore drove in Baker with a sacrifice fly. A Nick Dean single sent Kopec home and the Scots tied the game 3-3 going into the final inning.

The Eagles rode RBI singles from Koeneman and Lucas Mohon to piece together a 2-0 lead through five. C-N would add another run in the eighth on an RBI single by Lance Rorex, but failed to deal the big blow offensively to put the game out of reach sooner, stranding 10 runners.

The late errors wasted a quality start from Brandon Timmerman, who went 7.1 and allowed one earned run. The sophomore struck out only one, but recorded 14 ground ball outs.

C-N's Ben McKinney (WP, 1-0) picked up the win recording two outs in the eighth.

Koeneman, Mohon, and Rorex all had two hits for the Eagles. Mohon had a double, the only extra-base hit in the game.

Carson-Newman returns to action on Friday against Lenoir-Rhyne University. The game opens a three-game series with the Bears in Hickory, N.C.

-C-N-