ROCK HILL, S.C. – Jake Wright produced one of the best outings by a Carson-Newman starting pitcher in recent memory tossing a one-hit shutout against Queens on Saturday. The South Atlantic Conference rewarded his effort by naming him the Pitcher of the Week on Tuesday.
The Ringgold, Ga. native became the first Eagle to throw a complete game shutout since Vince Apicella blanked Newberry on April 6, 2019, a span of 210 games and 1,817 days. In his first career start, the rookie right-hander worked seven innings giving up one hit fanning six batters. He retired 17 in a row prior to a dropped fly ball with two outs in the top of the seventh. He promptly induced a grounder back to the mound to end the game.
Wright faced the minimum through six needing to see four batters in the seventh. The lone hit allowed came on a 3-0 pitch to Carter Foster with two outs in the first inning. He worked from the stretch to two batters in the game. The right-hander threw 88 pitches in the game. Of the 21 batters he faced, he went to either a two-ball or three-ball count six times.
Matt Bradley (Talbott, Tenn.) won the honor on Feb. 9 marking the first time since 2018 two different Carson-Newman hurlers won the honor in the same year as Dillon Cate and Greg Valentine went back-to-back in February.
Carson-Newman last threw a one-hit shutout on Feb. 9, 2019 in a 3-0 win against Alderson Broaddus. Kyle Cagle (Fairview, N.C.) worked 6 1/3 innings before Matt Bradley (Talbott, Tenn.) recorded the final two outs as the duo fanned 14. Dillon Cate and Will Gardner combined for a nine-inning one-hit shutout of Northwood on Feb. 18, 2018 striking out 19.
The freshman is the first Eagle toss a complete game one-hitter as an individual since Robby Thigpen one-hit Anderson on Feb. 26, 2011. However the Trojans scored a run after a hit batter and a walk in that game.
Finally, Wright is the first Eagle to produce an individual effort of this caliber since Wes McIntyre hurled a no-hitter on March 27, 2010 at Brevard. McIntyre walked one batter and fanned a dozen over seven innings in a 6-0 C-N victory.
Overall, he is the fourth pitcher since 2002 (as far as the game logs go back) to toss a complete game allowing one hit or fewer joining Thigpen, McIntyre and Justin Higdon who fired seven, one-hit frames at Augusta State on Feb. 1, 2009 punching out seven. Thigpen and Higdon walked three each in their efforts.
It set the tone for a dominating weekend of baseball for Carson-Newman in the first of three straight complete games. The Eagles had a total of three in the three previous years. To find the last time the program did that in a series came on April 19, 2003 when Derrick Calkin, Ryan West and John Wallace each went the distance against Catawba.
All told, Carson-Newman allowed one run in 32 innings yielding 18 hits, only three of which went for extra bases. Of the 32 innings, the pitching staff faced the minimum 19 times with a dozen clean 1-2-3 frames.
While he does not have enough innings to qualify for league leaders, Wright is 2-0 to begin his rookie campaign fanning 21 batters in 14 2/3 innings. The lone run he has allowed this year came against Newberry on Feb. 20.
The Eagles are in action this afternoon taking on seventh-ranked Lee at Larry Carpenter Stadium and Olympic Field starting at 4 p.m.
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