GREENEVILLE, Tenn. – Carson-Newman's bullpen fired 5 2/3 scoreless innings of baseball and Harrison Travis launched two home runs and drove in five as the Eagles sealed a second straight South Atlantic Conference series win over Tusculum on Monday at Pioneer Park winning 9-6.
"It's a tremendous effort," Carson-Newman coach Tom Griffin said. "It was coach Tingle's doing. I think he had the guys ready mentally and prepared for what was going to happen. It started with Noah Pridmore. The other relievers did what they had to do. It's a big park, throw strikes. Sometimes balls are going to go at people. Jake Wright is the ultimate competitor. Every has one quality at bats. Every inning there was pressure whether it was a hard hit ball, runners on base and an outstanding job as far as the pressure goes to give us that cushion."
For the first time in the history of the series, Carson-Newman (24-17, 9-8) wins a third straight series at Pioneer Park winning eight of the last nine while finishing a day of league action above .500 for the first time this year. Tusculum (16-22, 5-13) falls to 22-23 at home all-time against the Eagles.
Each of the first six batters of the game for the Eagles reached safely. After a nine-pitch walk and an error, Harrison Travis (Soddy Daisy, Tenn.) tattooed a 3-1 pitch over the scoreboard in left field for his second homer in as many days. A double play ball added a fourth to put the Eagles ahead 4-0 before the Pioneers picked up the lumber.
With two outs and a runner at second base, Travis flew a ball into the left field corner that bounced off of the glove a leaping Zane Keener for an RBI triple to swell the early bulge to 5-0.
The Pioneers answered with a four-run bottom of the second to pull within a run at 5-4. Luis Ezra doubled in Rudy Fernandez who singled to start the inning before scoring on a sacrifice fly. With two outs and no one on base, Ryan Dos Santos drew a four-pitch walk before Tyler Ranel hit a two-run homer to left field.
Andrew Carpenter (Morristown, Tenn.) ambushed the first pitch of the third cranking his fourth long ball of the season to put the Eagles back ahead 6-4.
Christian Ortega matched that with a solo homer to start the third inning on a 3-2 pitch after falling into an 0-2 hole once again making it a one-run game at 6-5.
Travis hopped on the first pitch of the fourth lining it over the three in 331 inside of the pole down the left-field line for his second blast of the day to get it back to a two-run margin.
Jaden Stegall led off the bottom of the fourth with a double and came around to score on a one-out base knock back through the box by Dos Santos inching the home crew within a 7-6 tally.
Carson-Newman added a run to the edge in each of the next two innings on a Carpenter RBI double down the left-field line in the sixth and a Henry Jackson (Waxhaw, N.C.) base hit up the middle in the seventh to stretch it to 9-6.
Offensively, the Eagles racked up 15 more hits in the finale as six players finished with a multi-hit game. Travis went 3-for-5 with five RBIs and two runs scored to guide the way while Carpenter added a pair of RBIs.
Four relievers combined to fire 5 2/3 shutdown stanzas striking out five walking one and allowing just four hits as Jake Wright (Ringgold, Ga.) struck out the side in the bottom of the ninth for his fifth save of the year.
Tusculum left nine men on base with Ranel leading the unit going 3-for-4 with two RBIs as one of three players to finish the game with two or more hits.
The Eagles are back in action on Tuesday starting a four-game homestand against Young Harris at 3 p.m. from the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex. Broadcast coverage airs on the Eagle Sports Network by visiting cneagles.com/live for the audio and video streams.
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