WINGATE, N.C. – With a 7-4 victory in game one and a pair of losses by Lenoir-Rhyne Saturday afternoon, the Carson-Newman Eagles (24-20, 12-18 South Atlantic Conference) earned the No. 8 seed in next week's SAC Championship. The Wingate Bulldogs (26-20, 15-15 SAC) came back to win 9-3 in the series finale at Ron Christopher Stadium.
The Eagles will take on fifth-seeded Wingate Thursday at 4 p.m. in a single elimination contest at McNair Stadium in Forest City, N.C.
"I'm very proud for the guys to be on the road after what happened yesterday which was a tough loss," Carson-Newman coach Tom Griffin said. "To respond the way they did in that first game, very happy for them that they get to go on to that conference tournament despite some of the things they had to overcome."
Game No. 1 – CARSON-NEWMAN 7, Wingate 4
On the first pitch of the game, senior centerfielder Joe Tipton (Dandridge, Tenn.) crushed a fastball over the rightfield wall just inside of the fair pole. It was Tipton's first home run since February 8, 2014, a walk-off homer against Brevard. Sophomore second basemen Eric Lynch (Boonton, N.J.) was hit by a 2-2 pitch and scored from first base on a double to the left-centerfield fence by junior third basemen Brandon Roberts (Davie, Fla.). Roberts crossed the plate on a double down the rightfield line by senior first basemen Evan Jurjevic (New Carlisle, Ind.) giving the Eagles three runs before the Bulldogs stepped to the plate.
Senior shortstop Bryan Everhart (Greeneville, Tenn.) started the second inning with a double off of the wall in rightfield and scored on a base hit to rightfield by Tipton to extend the lead to 4-0.
Carson-Newman starting pitcher Vince Apicella (Dillsburg, Pa.) retired the first two batters of the bottom of the third before issuing a pair of base on balls. Bradley Brown lined a 1-0 pitch into the right-centerfield alley to plate a pair of runners and cut the Eagles' lead to 4-2.
Everhart reached on an error by shortstop Michael Godinez to start the fourth frame. With two outs, Roberts bounced a ball back up the middle to score Everhart and push the lead back to 5-2.
Once again Apicella retired the first two batters of the home half of the fourth before Blake Prince doubled down leftfield line. Bill Krebs tallied his first hit of the series with a long home run over the left-centerfield fence to cut the Carson-Newman lead to 5-4.
A pair of solo home runs in the seventh stanza extended the Carson-Newman lead to 7-4. With one out, Roberts laced his fifth roundtripper of the season just inside of the leftfield fair pole. After a groundout, Ausmus clubbed a dinger for the second straight game clearing the left-centerfield wall on a 2-2 pitch.
Apicella retired 10 of the last 11 Wingate batters as the lefty tossed a complete game for the fifth time this year, a stat he leads the conference in. The Dillsburg, Pa. struck out eight while walking five and allowing seven hits and four earned runs to improve to 6-5 on the year.
"Vince Apicella was tremendous," Griffin said. "Joe [Tipton] I thought all weekend was hard contact. I thought Roberts had an outstanding weekend. Bo Ausmus had big hits. Jurjevic did what he had to do. We got hits when we needed to at times in that first game. Really the MVP of that game was [pitching coach] Blake Herring. He did a tremendous job with the game plan."
Roberts had his second four-hit game of the year by going 4-for-5 with three RBI and two runs scored as the Eagles outhit the Bulldogs 10-7.
The victory snapped an 11-game losing streak against Wingate that dated back to a 5-3 Eagles' victory on April 2, 2011.
Game No. 2 – WINGATE 9, Carson-Newman 3
With two outs in the bottom of the second inning, Blake Prince hit his fifth home run of the season off of the scoreboard in leftfield on a 2-2 pitch to give the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead.
Carson-Newman tied the score at one on a one-out infield single by Roberts that trickled out toward the shortstop to score Tipton.
The Eagles took their first lead of the game in the top of the fifth inning. Lynch led off the inning with a base hit to rightfield and stole second base. Sophomore rightfielder Ryan Addington (Cincinnati, Ohio) lined a single into centerfield to plate Lynch. After Roberts doubled to right and Jurjevic was hit by a pitch, Ausmus laced a single to leftfield to make it a 3-1 contest.
With one out in the bottom of the fifth inning, Thomas Spitz hit his 12th home run of the season just over the rightfield wall to put the Bulldogs back ahead by a run at 4-3.
Wingate added five to its lead on an RBI single to leftfield by Godinez and a grand slam by Spitz to give the home team a 9-3 advantage in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Roberts tallied another multi-hit day by going 2-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored to bring his season total 12 multi-hit contests.
Thursday's game will be broadcast on the Eagle Sports Network in audio with the pregame show beginning 10 minutes prior to the 4 p.m. first pitch.
