VIDEO: Kilian Daughtry Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Behind a season-high four home runs, Carson-Newman led by as many as 13 runs before settling on a 16-6 victory to start the South Atlantic Conference series against Limestone on Friday at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex.
"The big thing is we talked about what's happening with runners in scoring position," Carson-Newman coach Tom Griffin said. "Today we were fortunate enough to have some good at bats. The ability to use the whole field especially with two strikes, let the ball travel a little deeper to avoid the ball in the dirt. I thought our guys did a good job working the middle of the field."
The last time that the Eagles hit at least four bombs in one game came on March 26, 2021 at Wingate, a span of 57 games and 369 days ago. Henry Jackson (Waxhaw, N.C.) went 5-for-6 with two RBIs and three runs scored registering the first five-hit day by an Eagle since Ryan Addington against UVA Wise on Feb. 10, 2017, a span of 250 games and 1,877 days.
Kilian Daughtry (Simpsonville, S.C.) became the second C-N player with a multi-homer game launching a pair of two-run shots bringing his career total to 10. The club has scored 10-plus runs in four games in a row for the first time since Feb. 28 to March 5, 2016.
"The joke is I'm a big guy and I just hit singles," Daughtry said. "I think being comfortable in the box and not having to worry about mechanics and hunting a fastball, getting the head out a little bit. I got the fastball and I hit it."
Carson-Newman (20-15, 5-7) beats Limestone (4-32, 1-15) for the 11th time in 12 tries in games played at Mossy Creek picking up its biggest margin of victory in the series since a 19-7 victory on Feb. 2, 2019.
Jackson kickstarted the offense singling to left field with one out in the bottom of the first and moving to second on a failed pick-off attempt. He was still there with two outs when Harrison Travis (Soddy Daisy, Tenn.) hit a towering chopper over the third baseman and down the left-field line to get the Eagles on the board. Five pitches later on a 2-2 pitch, Daughtry launched a two-run homer over the wall in left-center to make it a 3-0 game.
After a Jackson RBI double in the second, Gunnar Ricketts (Hixson, Tenn.) cranked a 0-2 offering over the scoreboard in right field for his fifth home run of the season to swell the early bulge to 7-0 after two innings.
In the top of the fourth, an error opened the door for the Saints. Gianni Lombardo drew a bases loaded walk to get the club on the scoreboard before Matt Coles (Winter Garden, Fla.) fanned the final two to end the threat and keep the tally at 7-1.
Matt Parkinson (Whitesboro, N.Y.) cranked the third pitch of the fourth over the wall in left field to jumpstart a five-run fourth and push the lead out to 12-1. After a double steal of home and an RBI single from Travis, Daughtry blasted his second roundtripper of the game on a 1-1 pitch inside of the pole in left field for a two-run shot.
Jackson laced his fourth hit of the game into left field to add a run to ledger in the fifth extending the advantage to 13-1.
After a ground out stretched the margin to 14-1 in the seventh, Limestone scored five times in the top of the eighth inning on a solo shot from Giuseppe Sedita and two-run blasts from Dylan Shugan and Clark Burroughs to inch within a 14-6 score.
With two outs in the eighth inning, Spencer Williams (Seymour, Tenn.) slid a two-run single into right field to score a pair and get the game to the final margin of 16-6.
Limestone had gone nine straight games without scoring more than four runs putting up its most runs since March 13 with Brandon Billesberger going 2-for-5 with a run scored as the only player with a multi-hit day at the park.
Each team used three pitchers apiece with Tyler Shaver (Dandridge, Tenn.) being the only one to not allow a run getting five outs with two strikeouts.
The two clubs put a bow on the series on Saturday starting at noon from Mossy Creek with both games airing on the Eagle Sports Network with audio and video streams available on cneagles.com/live.
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