"Brevard came in ready to go," head coach Tom Griffin said. "Their hitters did an outstanding job hitting mistakes and balls that were left up in the zone. I thought their offense was tremendous."

Carson-Newman wasted no time in taking the lead in the top of the first inning. Sophomore centerfielder Ryan Addington (Cincinnati, Ohio) looped a single into left field to begin the frame. After a sacrifice bunt and a wild pitch, Addington was at third base with one out. Freshman designated hitter Joe Rotelli (Morganville, N.J.) brought home Addington with a sacrifice fly to center to make it 1-0.

Brevard put up four runs in the second inning, the most in a single inning by an Eagle opponent this season. With one out, three straight singles capped by a hit to leftfield by Pat Quinn tied the score at one. After a groundout, senior righthander Quinton Yocom (Cable, Ohio) walked Christian Dix to load the bases. Brennan Allen lined a single to rightfield to plate two more runs. Hunter Donaldson capped the stanza with a bouncing single up the middle to make it 4-1.

In the top of the fifth inning, the Eagles got a run back. Junior third basemen Brandon Roberts (Davie, Fla.) singled to right on the second pitch he saw and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt. Addington lined a 0-1 pitch into left field to bring home Roberts and make it a 4-2 contest.

The Tornados once again scored four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. A throwing error by senior shortstop Bryan Everhart (Greeneville, Tenn.) and a walk began the frame. A single from Ryan Smith and a double from Quinn made it 6-2. Dix provided the big blow with a double to left-center field to extend the lead to 8-2.

Yocom went five innings allowing eight runs, five earned on 10 hits with two walks and two strikeouts to take his first loss of the season.

Brevard had three players tally three hits in the game as the Tornados had 14 hits for the game, the most given up by Carson-Newman's pitching staff this season.

Addington was the lone player to have multiple hits as he went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored as the Eagles mustered just six hits in the contest.

"There's a lot of experience here," Griffin said about his hitters. "They will figure it out and confidence is a big thing. There's a confident group over there and our guys are going to gain that confidence. We can't let one at-bat dictate our confidence. Hitting will tear you down if you let that happen."

Carson-Newman and Brevard will play two games on Saturday with the first game of the twin-bill being scheduled for noon at Gil Coan Field. Both games can be heard by visiting cneagles.com/live.

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