MARION, N.C. – Outscoring Queens 26-4 and witnessing 13 errors by the Royals in the series, Carson-Newman closed out a three-game sweep of the first-year South Atlantic Conference program with 11-2 and 3-0 victories Monday at Big League Camp.
"We had a lot of energy all night and were really loose in the dugout," Griffin said. "All of our pitchers were solid on the mound. Cogburn and Conner did a great job in game one and Bradley and Long continued that in the second game. Sharpe and Griffin were great at the plate and I thought we were really clean defensively."
It is the second road sweep by Tom Griffin's crew against SAC programs this year and the first of the three-game variety. This year is the second year in-a-row where the school sweeps a team in its final road trip of the year after taking down Tusculum in 2018.
With the series victory, Carson-Newman (27-17, 9-11) solidifies a winning record on the road in league affairs for the second-straight season finishing with a 7-4 mark in 2019. It is the first time since 2010 and 2011 that the program had winning record in road SAC games since 2010-11 after going 10-5 in 2018.
Griffin's group also secures a bid into the South Atlantic Conference Tournament to be held from April 25-29 at Smokies Stadium.
The Eagles continue their dominance over first-year SAC schools improving to 16-2 all-time with four sweeps adding Queens (12-28, 4-17) to the list of programs that have not fared well against C-N.
Ethan Goforth (Blacksburg, Va.) pushed his hitting streak to 15 games in the opening contest where he went 27-for-56. It was the first streak of that length since Paul Kirby hit in 16 in-a-row from Feb. 8 to March 17, 2017, 124 games and 759 days ago.
John Sharpe (Franklin, Tenn.) paced the offense over the weekend with seven RBIs hitting the team's lone home run of the weekend. Jordan Griffin (Ellerslie, Ga.) went 6-for-13 with three RBIs and three runs scored for the series.
On the mound, the C-N pitching staff yielded six walks and a .231 batting average against posting a 1.44 ERA and 29 punch outs in 25 innings.
Game One: CARSON-NEWMAN 11, Queens 2
The Eagles wasted no time taking a big lead before the Royals came to the plate scoring five times in the top of the first inning. All of the damage came with two outs with Sharpe blasting his sixth homer of the season over the wall in left, a two-run shot. The Eagles loaded the bases with three singles in succession getting runs on a fielder's choice, a walk and Alan Silva (Sevierville, Tenn.) swiping the plate on a pick-off attempt.
In the fourth, C-N put up four more runs with some help of poor defense from the Royals. RBI knocks from Sharpe and Griffin opened the big frame. The duo touched the plate on an error in center field by CJ Hammonds stretching the advantage to 9-0.
Queens pushed a run across in the bottom of the fourth. Noah Jones led off the stanza with a double down the right-field line, moving to second on a ground out and scoring on a sacrifice fly to left field by Nick Melton trimming the deficit to 9-1.
Pinch-hitting to lead off the eighth, Michael Wroth (Chicopee, Mass.) pushed a double into the gap in left-center field coming into score on a base hit to center field by Mark Treadway (Friendsville, Tenn.) expanding the bulge to 10-1.
Two errors aided Charlie Brown (Sevierville, Tenn.) crossing the dish in the top of the ninth. Two throwing errors moved him to second base before Wroth single to center field to make it an 11-1 affair.
In the bottom of the ninth, Anthony Orta doubled to left field with one out and came in to score in on a base hit to left-center field by Melton getting to the final margin of 11-2.
Logan Cogburn (Friendsville, Tenn.) toed the slab for the Eagles working six stanzas with a pair of punch outs while yielding a run on four hits and two walks. The rookie improved to 5-1 on the season.
Austin Conner (Sevierville, Tenn.) earned a three-inning save, the first of his career, in relief punching out four batters while yielding a run on three hits while tossing 34 pitches.
Sharpe notched his second four-hit game of the season going 4-for-4 with three RBIs and two runs scored. Griffin finished the day 2-for-5 with an RBI and two runs scored while Wroth produced a pair of pokes, an RBI and a run scored off of the bench.
Tanner Jacobson entered the game with a 1.95 ERA took his first loss of the year working five innings giving up nine runs only three earned on seven hits and two walks with three strikeouts.
Dominic Ford went 2-for-3 at the top of the lineup with Melton driving in a pair to pace the offense for coach Jack McDowell's team.
Game Two: CARSON-NEWMAN 3, Queens 0
An error and two singles opened the game with Wroth driving in Goforth with a base hit through the left side of the infield. Tyler Thompson (Gallatin, Tenn.) scored on a fielder's choice and it was 2-0 before the Royals stepped to the plate.
Wroth reached on an error in the third inning giving way to a pinch runner, Treadway. He stole second base and came around to score on base hit back up the box by Griffin to stretch the edge to 3-0.
Queens was able to get the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the ninth after two outs with two walks only to see Dominic Ford strike out swinging.
Matt Bradley (Talbott, Tenn.) worked five shutout innings to start the game scattering five hits while striking out six batters to earn his second win of the year in a second-straight week.
Griffin went 2-for-3 with two RBIs out of the five-hole in the lineup as the Eagles outhit Royals 7-6, with six different members of the home team recording one hit.
The Eagles return home in less than 24 hours for a 3 p.m. first pitch against Trevecca Nazerene on Tuesday from the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex. The Eagle Sports Network has the call starting on cneagles.com/live in audio and video forms.
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