FOREST CITY, N.C. – Second team All-South Atlantic Conference starting pitcher Chris Armstrong (Blaine, Tenn.) pitched his second complete game of the season to propel Carson-Newman (20-24) to an opening round 5-1 win over no. 23 and top-seeded Catawba (34-15) in the 2013 Food Lion SAC Baseball Tournament. 

The Eagles move on to take on the loser of the Tusculum vs. Newberry game.

The win marked Carson-Newman's seventh against nationally ranked competition this year. 

"No walks and Armstrong worked inside very well," Carson-Newman head coach Tom Griffin said of his starting pitcher. "He was locked in and even made a big defensive play to help himself later in the game.  The defense made some plays behind him turning a double play in a two-run game."

The first four innings went scoreless, with Armstrong and Catawba's SAC Pitcher of the Year Nick Lomascolo limiting the offenses to just four hits while piling up a combined 12 strikeouts.

­Carson-Newman got on the board in the fifth. After a pair of strikeouts started the frame, Bryan Everhart (Greeneville, Tenn.) ripped a two-out single through the left side. Zach Long (Jefferson City, Tenn.) followed with a single down the right field line, while a walk would load the bases. Roberts lined a two-run single to right to give the Eagles the lead.

"We have spent weeks since that Catawba series working two-strike, two-out counts," Griffin said. "Lomascolo was able to get his strikeouts (the starter piled up nine Ks), but our players were able to force him to pitch a little differently and a little bit more."

Catawba cut the lead in half in the bottom of the sixth. A leadoff error put Catawba's Keaton Hawks on second base, while a bunt single from Houston moved him to third. He would score on Paul Kronenfeld's RBI single through the right side to make it 2-1.

The Eagles had the answer in the top of the seventh when Kevin Franchetti (Highland, Ind.) led off the frame with his eighth homer of the year, a solo shot over the 25-foot wall in left to push the lead back to two.

Carson-Newman added two more runs in the eighth. Roberts started the frame with a single, then went to third on a two-out double from Evan Jurjevic (New Carlisle, Ind.). A two-out, two-run single up the middle from Fox gave the Eagles a 5-1 advantage.

That would be plenty for Armstrong, who improves to 7-5 on the year. He allowed nine hits on the day, eight of which were singles. Armstrong piled up 11 strikeouts – one off his career high - without walking a batter while allowing one unearned run, throwing 123 pitches on the day. Lomascolo falls to 9-3 on the year. He allowed five runs on eight hits in 7 2/3 innings, striking out nine and walking one.

"Us being able to sustain ourselves (through the losing streak) should be considered momentum," Griffin said.  "To be able to overcome that and beat Belmont Abbey, King and Newberry on the road, our hitters have done a tremendous job the past couple of weeks to get two-out, two strike hits.  They're gaining some confidence and getting much better at bats and I like where we are in this tournament." 

Carson-Newman returns to action Friday at 3:45 to take on the loser of the Tusculum vs. Newberry game.  Coverage begins at 3:30 p.m. on the Coca-Cola Eagle Sports Network online at cneagles.com/live.

-CN-