VIDEO: Brandon Roberts Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Senior first basemen Evan Jurjevic (New Carlisle, Ind.) and junior third basemen Brandon Roberts (Davie, Fla.) hit home runs as the Carson-Newman Eagles (18-15) won their 750th game as a program in a 7-4 victory over the Limestone Saints (10-22) Tuesday afternoon at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex.
"That is tremendous because of the history of this program," Carson-Newman coach Tom Griffin said. "Through the Frosty Holt days, to have seen all the people that have come through this program and played for it. We talk about it every day. We talk about our history here, talk about the tradition. It's very important to us. These guys understand it."
Limestone saw the first three batters reach base safely in the top of the first inning. First basemen Kyle Booth floated a ball into centerfield to score Chris Scura who walked to begin the game. After a 6-4-3 double play, a fielding error by sophomore second basemen Eric Lynch (Boonton, N.J.) allowed Austin Marcellus to cross the plate and let the Saints take a 2-0 lead.
Carson-Newman responded in the bottom of the first as junior third basemen Brandon Roberts (Davie, Fla.) extended his hitting streak to seven games with a towering chopper over the first base bag to score junior centerfielder Joe Tipton (Dandridge, Tenn.) who reached on an error to begin the frame and make it a 2-1 contest.
Brett Gemmell started the Limestone half of the fourth inning with a base hit down the rightfield line. A single and a sacrifice bunt later, Gemmell was at third base for Michael Newcomb. The second basemen for the Saints drove in Gemmell with a sacrifice fly to centerfield and extend the visiting group's lead to two runs.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, the Eagles tied the score. With one out, four straight batters reached base safely. Redshirt freshman catcher Brett Hagenow (Knoxville, Tenn.) scored senior shortstop Bryan Everhart (Greeneville, Tenn.) with a bloop single to left-center field for his first career run batted in. A fielder's choice from Lynch plated junior rightfielder Mitch Trzeciak (Charlotte, Mich.) and tie the score at three.
Leftfielder Michael Gonzalez started the top of the fifth frame with a double off of the left-centerfield fence. After a single, Gonzalez scored on a 6-4-3 twin-killing to put the Saints ahead 4-3.
Senior first basemen Evan Jurjevic (New Carlisle, Ind.) crushed the first pitch he saw in the last of the fifth over the right-centerfield fence to tie the score at four. With the roundtripper, Jurjevic extended his hitting streak to 10 games, the second 10-game hitting streak by an Eagle this year.
Carson-Newman took its first lead of the game in the bottom of the seventh inning. Jurjevic drew a four-pitch walk to start the stanza. With one out, senior leftfielder Bo Ausmus (Jefferson City, Tenn.) lined a double to the wall in leftfield. Logan Conley, the Limestone shortstop, committed a throwing error to allow Jurjevic to score. Two batters later, Trzeciak smacked a single to center to score Ausmus and make it a 6-4 contest.
With two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning, Roberts launched his fourth dinger of the season to straightaway center to extend the lead to 7-4.
The combination of Michael Cogliano (Medford, N.J.) and Carson Bryant (Fletcher, N.C.) retired the final twelve Saints of the game as Cogliano improved to 2-3 and Bryant earned his third save of the year.
The Eagles turnaround and take on the UVA-Wise Cavaliers for the first time in program history with a trek to Wise, Va. for a 3 p.m. first pitch. Fans can check out a complimentary audio stream of the contest by visiting cneagles.com/live.
- CN -
