VIDEO: Evan Jurjevic Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Senior first basemen Evan Jurjevic (New Carlisle, Ind.) lined the first pitch of his at-bat with one-out in the bottom of the ninth inning to score junior third basemen Brandon Roberts (Davie, Fla.) from first base to give the Carson-Newman Eagles (20-15) their first walk-off victory of the year over the Winston-Salem State Rams (22-10) Friday afternoon at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex. It marked the first walk-off victory for the Eagles since a 2-1, 11-inning win over Newberry on April 5, 2014.
"Each at-bat is different," Jurjevic said. "I just took the same approach and luckily drove the ball for two doubles and you have to take one at-bat at a time. That's just the way baseball is, you can't dwell on the past, you have to focus on the future."
Carson-Newman did not have a hit and was retired in order in three of the first four innings until freshman designated hitter Joe Rotelli (Morganville, N.J.) lined a single off of the glove of a diving Nathan Steger at shortstop for the first hit of the game by the home team. Back-to-back walks loaded the bases but a strikeout and a line out had the runners still standing on the bases with two outs. Sophomore second basemen Eric Lynch (Boonton, N.J.) laced a single passed diving second basemen Colby Keene to plate two and put the Eagles ahead 2-0.
A hit batter and a walk put two runners aboard for the Rams in the top of the sixth inning. Carson-Newman starter Quinton Yocom (Cable, Ohio) struck out Alex Grubb looking before Dylan Dombrowskas singled to centerfield to pull the visiting club within a run. A call to the bullpen brought senior righthander Michael Cogliano (Medford, N.J.) who allowed a double to left-centerfield on a 1-2 pitch by Nathan Steger to give the Rams a 3-2 lead.
"When they scored the three, there was no panic here," Carson-Newman coach Tom Griffin. "They are handling the adversity in a calm fashion. They realize that there's time and that's a good feeling and a good vibe right now."
The first two batters were retired in the Carson-Newman half of the seventh inning. Roberts doubled to the rightfield corner to extend his hitting streak to nine games and scored on a flare double down the rightfield line by Jurjevic to tie the score at three. Jurjevic extended his hitting streak to 12 games and his consecutive games on base streak to 32 contests with the double.
"That's a solid all-around and a good test," Griffin said. "It was a good ballgame by both clubs. I think it was a fun game for people to watch. It all starts on the mound. J.D. Cowart, I thought had great energy, called a great game. Yocom was really solid. I thought we had great at-bats. We had a lot of hard-hit balls."
The Eagles mustered just six hits in the game but drew seven walks. Jurjevic went 2-for-5 with two runs batted in marking his 17th multi-hit game and ninth multi-RBI contest of the season.
Senior reliever Carson Bryant (Fletcher, N.C.) tossed two scoreless to earn his first victory of the season yielding two hits while striking out four.
Carson-Newman closes out the weekend with a doubleheader against the Rams Saturday afternoon at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex beginning at noon. Both games are available in high definition by visiting cneagles.com/live courtesy of the Eagle Sports Network.
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