HICKORY, N.C. – Carson-Newman coach Tom Griffin won his 600th career contest as a skipper as Carson-Newman found its hot streak late game two of the twin-bill holding off Lenoir-Rhyne in a 7-4 victory in game two Saturday at Bears Field after being blanked 4-0 in the first contest of the South Atlantic Conference season.
"As a staff we have to be glad that we could overcome things today to get a win in game two," Carson-Newman coach Tom Griffin said. "Their guy in game one did a good job mixing speeds and we were not catching a lot of breaks throughout the day. We were able to get the lead but with how they came back and tie it, it says a lot about our team that we could get a win the way we did. Matt Bradley competed well and Hunter Long was solid in relief."
Griffin, ranked second among active SAC coaches, becomes the 37th active skipper in Division II to win 600 games as a head coach. Carson-Newman (10-5, 1-1) had won seven straight SAC games and won six of the last seven SAC openers before losing the first game of the day. Saturday was the first meetings between the two schools at Lenoir-Rhyne (8-6, 1-1) since 2014.
Game One: LENOIR-RHYNE 4, Carson-Newman 0
The Eagles went down in order four times in the game mustering three total hits in game one. Lenoir-Rhyne played small ball in the third getting a run on a wild pitch and on a squeeze play to go ahead 2-0 after three.
Bryce Stober led off the inning with a single up the middle, stole second and came in to score two batters later on a base hit by Xander Ferlenda to push the margin to 3-0.
Carson-Newman's only true threat of the day came in the eighth inning when it put runners at first and second base with two outs. However a strikeout and a fly out to center field stymied the opportunity.
Mike McHugh walked to open the eighth and scored when the next batter, David Bell, ripped a double to left field giving the Bears a 4-0 advantage.
Brayden Coe (Bridgevilla, Pa.) took the loss despite allowing three earned runs on eight hits over six innings with five punch outs. He was outdueled by Alex Shirazi who worked seven scoreless innings giving up two hits and two walks fanning a pair.
No Eagle reached base multiple times in the game with E.J. Ranel and Bell leading Lenoir-Rhyne with 3-for-4 days. Stober scored twice.
Game Two: CARSON-NEWMAN 7, Lenoir-Rhyne 4
The Bears lit the lamp first scoring twice in the bottom of the second. Mike McHugh doubled and Brock Johnson singled to make it a 2-0 contest before Johnson was thrown out at the plate by Charlie Brown (Sevierville, Tenn.) to cap the frame.
With two outs and two men on base in the third, Chris Caldwell (Seymour, Tenn.) ripped a double to the gap in left-center field to bring in the duo and tie the score at two.
Once again two-out hitting came up clutch for the Eagles in the third. Gunnar Ricketts (Hixson, Tenn.) drove a ball over the head of the center fielder to bring in two on the triple and give the Eagles their first lead of the day at 4-2.
C-N was four outs away from victory with McHugh trimmed the deficit to one with two outs in the sixth. Bell popped up to third three pitches later but the ball was dropped allowing the tying run to score and send the game to the seventh deadlocked at four.
An error and a dropped fly ball in center field put runners at second and third base with one for the Eagles in the seventh. Henry Jackson (Waxhaw, N.C.) provided the big knock with a double to center to bring in a pair. Jackson later came around to score on a bases loaded infield single by Tyler Thompson (Gallatin, Tenn.).
In a game that featured seven errors, C-N outhit the Bears 9-8 with Thompson leading the way with three knocks. Jackson finished the game 2-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored.
Hunter Long (Powell, Tenn.) earned the win firing the final four outs giving up a hit while striking out two to improve to 2-0 on the season.
McHugh led the Bears offensive attack by going 3-for-3 with two RBIs and two runs scored as Chris Ramirez used seven pitchers pinning the loss on Josh Lanham who gave up three unearned runs in a 1 1/3 innings of work.
The two sides finish up the series on Sunday at 1 p.m. Follow @CNathletics on Twitter and Instagram for the latest news and notes with full coverage on cneagles.com.
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