JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Saginaw Valley State notched 13 hits in the its final four at-bats after tallying just one in the first five innings to beat Carson-Newman 10-7 Sunday afternoon at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex to complete a series split.
"We want to be gritty,' Carson-Newman coach Tom Griffin said. "We want to be tough and compete in the box. We want to wear balls off of our body. We want to play injured and get after it. We want to put pressure on people. They did that to us all weekend. I told their coach you guys play the way we train."
Carson-Newman (8-11) is now 14-6 against teams from the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference as Saginaw Valley State (2-6) wins back-to-back games for the first time this season.
C-N starting pitcher Kyle Cagle (Fairview, N.C.) hit the first batter, Derrek Clyde, on the first pitch of the day and allowed a solid single into right field from Adam Fitzgibbon on the second toss. Cagle balked to move the runners into scoring position. Chad Carson ended a 10-pitch at-bat with a sacrifice fly to right field to open the scoring at 1-0 Cardinals. The left-hander struck out a batter and induced a ground out to escape the jam.
Cade Snapp (Seymour, Tenn.) walked to start the bottom of the second inning. Following a strikeout and a pop out, Trever Lee (Garner, N.C.) laced a single into center field and Brett Langhorne (Mechiancsville, Va.) drew a walk to load the bases. On a 0-1 pitch Ethan Goforth (Blacksburg, Va.) smacked a single into center field to score a pair and put the Eagles on top 2-1.
Cagle has retired the minimum in three straight innings entering the sixth while allowing just one hit on the day. A walk and a base hit started the stanza. After a sacrifice bunt put runners at second and third base, Collin Winters pulled a base hit into left field through a drawn-in infield to score Clyde and tie the game at two. Cagle walked Adam Turner to load the bases before getting a fly to shallow right field for the second out. Jason Clark stepped into the batter's box and launched a 1-0 offering over the left-field wall for a grand slam to put the Cardinals ahead 6-2.
With two outs in the bottom of the sixth, Carson-Newman loaded the bases. Tristan Faunce and Brandon Wise walked back-to-back batters to force in a pair and close the gap to 6-4.
In the top of the seventh inning, Collin Winters doubled off of the base of the wall in left-center field with one out. A line drive two-base hit down the left-field line by Adam Turner drove in Winters. Craig Wilson flew out to right field and Turner scored on an infield single to shortstop by Clark to regain a four-run lead at 8-4.
Tyler Stambaugh retired the first two batters of the eighth inning for the Cardinals before allowing a single to left by Goforth and walking Selitto and Lynch to load the bases. Ryan Addington (Cincinnati, Ohio) pulled a base hit just beyond the reach of the first baseman Winters to plate Goforth and Selitto to make it an 8-6 game.
A successful squeeze bunt by Brendan Harrison and an RBI single to right from Jordan Swiss added insurance for SVSU in the top of the ninth inning and extend the lead to 10-6.
A two-out single to left field from Selitto put a run on the board in the bottom of the ninth and allowed the tying run to come to the plate in Lynch. The second baseman lined out to Winters at first base to end the game.
Goforth and Selitto each led the Eagles on the day with two hits and a pair of RBIs each while Lee scored three times.
Fitzgibbon notched a 3-for-5 day with a run scored, Turned tallied three runs and Clark finished the day by going 2-for-4 with a home run and five RBIs.
Cagle (0-3) took the loss by going 5 2/3 innings allowing six earned runs on four hits and four walks with a pair of strikeouts.
The Eagles will be back in action Tuesday afternoon with a road trip to Lee for a 3 p.m. contest against the Flames. Broadcast coverage starts at 2:45 p.m. on the Eagle Sports Network on cneagles.com/live with "The Appalachian Electric Cooperative Countdown to First Pitch".
- CN -
