VIDEO: Ryan Addington Interview
VIDEO: Mark Allen Bounds Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Ryan Addington drove in a South Atlantic Conference record 10 runs while hitting two grand slams to lead Carson-Newman to a home-opening win for the 20th time in 24 tries as the Eagles blasted UVA-Wise 18-5 Friday afternoon at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex.
Addington (Cincinnati, Ohio) went 5-for-6 with four runs scored and 14 total bases passing former Carson-Newman player Kevin Bolden's prior record of nine set against Wingate in 2001. His five hits were the most by an Eagle since Lance Rorex had five against Lincoln Memorial on April 6, 2012.
"You have to trust the process," Addington said. "We come in every day and put in the work and it translates to the field. I have to think the coaches for always being there and always being ready to throw and doing whatever we need to get ready."
Since joining Division II in 1994, Carson-Newman (2-3) is 20-4 in home openers and has won five straight lid-lifters at the SDBC.
"We won the middle innings of the game to get to the later innings," Carson-Newman assistant coach Mark Allen Bounds said. "We throw up some zeroes on the pitching side to keep it where it's at. When you have a 10-run lead in the game you get a chance to do some different things. A lot of other guys got to play today and that was big for our team as a whole."
Addington started the bottom of the first with a triple to right field that reached the fence. Following a walk, Cade Snapp (Seymour, Tenn.) hit a shallow pop up to right-center field that was caught by the second baseman who fell down allowing Addington to alertly race to the plate to score the game's first run.
The first two men were retired in the bottom of the third inning only to see the next nine Eagles reach safely as C-N scored seven runs to go on top 8-0. With two runners on Brett Langhorne (Mechiancsville, Va.) smacked a single back up the middle to score one run and a bases loaded walk scored a second. Back-to-back walks loaded the bases as Addington launched a 2-1 offering over the left-field fence. Snapp laced a double down the left-field line to cap a seven-run frame.
The Cavaliers put three runs on the scoreboard in the top of the fourth. A walk and a single to left started the frame and after a strikeout, Trevor Nevill lined a double to right field to score Stuart Paz. Back-to-back RBI base hits from Joey Skov and Tyler Blaum made it an 8-3 contest.
Addington dug in with one out in the fourth inning and the bases juiced and cranked his second home run in as many innings over the left-field wall. It marked the 15th in Division II history that a player hit two grand slams in one game. The last person to do so was Pat Trettel of Seton against Pitt-Johnstown on March 20, 2010.
Two batters later with a runner on base, Snapp hammered a two-run dinger deep over the left-field wall for his second home run of the year to extend the lead to 14-3.
Three more runs crossed home in the fifth for the Eagles to push the lead to 17-3. Walks to consecutive batters started the inning as Jimmy Rice (Middlesex, N.J.) scored on a base hit to right field by Addington. A ground out from Snapp and an RBI double to left field from Paul Kirby (Goodlettsville, Tenn.) brought home two more runs.
Vinny Kuchenbuch hit a solo home run to left field with one out in the top of the eighth inning snapping a string of nine straight batters retired by C-N pitching.
With one out and runners at first and third base Addington stepped to the plate and grounded a base hit into right field on a 0-2 count to score Mark Treadway (Friendsville, Tenn.) to set the new conference mark for runs batted in in a contest and make it an 18-4 game.
Dante Salerno hit an RBI single to right field to make it an 18-5 affair as the first three batters reached safely to start the ninth inning before Harley Thompson (Tullhoma, Tenn.) struck out the next three Cavaliers to punctuate the game.
Snapp went 2-for-5 with five RBIs and a run scored as Campbell and Langhorne each had two hits.
10 different players scored a run for the Eagles as C-N walked 15 times marking the first time since March 30, 2016 against Limestone that the Eagles walked double-digit times in a game.
Greg Valentine (Knoxville, Tenn.) tossed a career-high 3 2/3 innings striking out four batters to earn the victory as one of the six pitchers C-N used in the game.
The Eagles and Cavaliers tangled twice on Saturday with a twin-bill starting at noon from the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex. Each game will have a high definition video stream and an audio stream available on cneagles.com/live starting 10 minutes prior to the first pitch with "The Appalachian Electric Cooperative Countdown to First Pitch" on the Eagle Sports Network.
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