JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Vince Apicella (Dillsburg, Pa.) tossed 7.2 innings in a 5-3 victory in game one while Jamie Miller (Wardensville, N.J.) tossed a three-hit shutout in a 9-0 win to help the Carson-Newman Eagles (17-15, 11-13 South Atlantic Conference) sweep a doubleheader over the Lenoir Rhyne Bears (21-15, 9-12 SAC) Saturday afternoon at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex.
"The lefties did a good job today," Carson-Newman coach Tom Griffin said. "Vinny Apicella did a great job coming back from a couple outings that weren't his best and got knocked out early. He did a tremendous job using his pitches very well. Jamie again was outstanding. Today's key without a doubt was J.D. Cowart. He was outstanding behind the dish. The energy level that he brought was the reason we won that game. He called a great game. He had great rapport with the umpires. He had a great rapport with Vinny and Jamie."
GAME No. 1 – CARSON-NEWMAN 5, Lenoir-Rhyne 0
Apicella fell behind Lenoir-Rhyne leadoff batter Brantley Rumford before Apicella left a fastball up in the zone that Rumford lined over the leftfield fence to make it a 1-0 contest.
Junior third basemen Brandon Roberts (Davie, Fla.) walked on five pitches to begin the fourth frame. After a strikeout, senior first basemen Evan Jurjevic (New Carlisle, Ind.) laced a double to the right-centerfield gap to plate Roberts and tie the score at one.
The first three batters reached safely in the bottom of the fifth inning as sophomore second basemen Eric Lynch (Boonton, N.J.) singled and was standing on third base after a wild pitch and a passed ball for junior centerfield Joe Tipton (Dandridge, Tenn.). Tipton singled in Lynch and came around to score on a sacrifice fly by Roberts to give the Eagles a 3-1 edge.
Jurjevic started the sixth stanza with a base hit to left field and stole his fourth bag of the year. On a 2-2 pitch, freshman designated hitter Joe Rotelli (Morganville, N.J.) lined a single into centerfield to score Jurjevic and extend the lead to 4-1. Rotelli was at third base after a hit batter and a passed ball and scored on a sacrifice fly from Lynch to make it 5-1.
Lenoir-Rhyne pulled two runs back in the top of the eighth inning on a double down the rightfield line by David Newcomer to make it a two-run contest.
Apicella snapped a personal four-game losing streak to improve to 4-4 on the year by working 7.2 innings yielding three earned runs, five hits, four walks and 12 strikeouts.
Senior righthander Carson Bryant (Fletcher, N.C.) retired the final four batters of the game including two punch outs to earn his secons save of the year.
Jurjevic had his ninth three-hit game of the year by going 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored.
GAME No. 2 – CARSON-NEWMAN 9, Lenoir-Rhyne 0
Rotelli started the second inning with a line drive double to the right-centerfield fence. With one out, Lynch lined a ball off of the glove of Lenoir-Rhyne starter Ivan Vietiez to score Rotelli and plate the game's first run.
Sophomore rightfielder Ryan Addington (Cincinnati, Ohio) started the third inning with a base hit to leftfield and stole second base. With two outs, Jurjevic lined a single to right to plate a run and make it 2-0.
Carson-Newman sent 11 men to the plate in the bottom of the fifth inning and the first seven men to come to the plate reached base safely for the home team. Tipton, Rotelli and senior catcher J.D. Cowart (Athens, Tenn.) had RBI doubles while Jurjevic, senior Bo Ausmus (Jefferson City, Tenn.) and senior shortstop Bryan Everhart (Greeneville, Tenn.) had RBI singles.
Miller retired the first nine batters of the game in tossing his first career complete game shutout. The junior did not walk a batter and struck out six on 112 pitches.
"I differentiated the speeds on my fastball," Miller said. "I took some off sometimes to get more movement. If I saw a guy crowding the plate I busted them in. If they backed up, I'd go away. I just kept them guessing all day."
Five different Eagles tallied multi-hit games and all nine starters had at least one hit for the second time this year. Lynch and Jurjevic each drove in two runs with two-hit days.
The Eagles close out the month of March with a home contest against the Limestone Saints on Tuesday with a 3 p.m. first pitch scheduled from the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex. A free high definition video and audio stream can be found by visiting cneagles.com/live.
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