2021 Pilot Flying J SAC All-Tournament Team
KODAK, Tenn. – Pitching was the key piece to Carson-Newman's success in the 2021 Pilot Flying J South Atlantic Conference Baseball Championships. On Tuesday, Brayden Coe and Matt Coles were named to the All-Tournament team announced by the league.
Coe kickstarted the weekend as the Eagles faced elimination in the play-in game against Mars Hill on Thursday night with the best start of his impressive year. The Bridgeville Pa. native yielded three hits, one walk and one hit batter on the day fanning nine to become the first C-N hurler since Vince Apicella on April 28, 2015, 268 games and 2,190 days ago, to fire a complete game, nine-inning shutout. The first-team All-SAC pick allowed only one man to reach scoring position stranding Austin Treadway in the third.
Three days later against eventual tournament champion Wingate he closed the door for his first-career save throwing 10 pitches in a 1-2-3 ninth. He finished his senior year with a 2.23 earned run average in 64 2/3 innings pitched, the best by a C-N pitcher in its NCAA history with minimum of 40 innings on the rubber.
Coles earned his fifth win of the season tossing eight frames giving up four runs, only one earned on nine hits with eight punch outs and one walk handing the Bulldogs their only loss of the tournament on April 25. If not for a two-out, three-run homer in the eighth, the southpaw limited the potent offense in the longest outing of his career matching a career-high with eight strikeouts.
In the three wins in the tournament, the pitching staff struck out 23 batters and allowed 10 total runs with Coe securing the team's sixth shutout of the year to match a single-season program record. Opponents registered 20 total hits and drew just seven walks.
Stay tuned with Carson-Newman baseball program throughout the offseason by bookmarking cneagles.com in your favorite browser and following @CNathletics on Twitter and Instagram.
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