WASHINGTON, Pa. – Despite trailing much of the day, Carson-Newman battled back to get the go-ahead run on base in the ninth but could not pull even falling to California in the series finale 4-3 on Sunday at Wild Things Park.
"We are poorly coached," Carson-Newman coach Tom Griffin said. "We don't have the ability to catch the ball properly and there are too many walks. We have to restructure our practice, our mindset on how to keep the game simple to not make many mistakes. That's our fault as a coaching staff and we are going to have to change our training."
Trey Miller (Rocky Point, N.Y.) kickstarted the offense lining the first pitch of the game into right-center field before going to second on a sacrifice bunt and to third on a fly out. Mitchell Balint (Avondale, Pa.) singled up the middle to bring home Miller and put the Eagles on top 1-0.
California responded immediately with a walk, a hit by pitch and a double steal to start the bottom of the first. The Vulcans settled for a run on a sacrifice fly to level the score at one.
After a fly out started the bottom of the fifth, the home group strung together four straight hits with Justin Stewart singling through the right side to put the group ahead. Nathan Meeks added a sacrifice fly to put the Eagles behind 3-1.
On the second pitch of the seventh, James Denten (Mt. Prospect, Ill.) blasted a solo homer to left field on a 1-0 offering for his second home run of the season slicing the margin in half to make it 3-2.
With one out in the bottom of the seventh, two walks and a hit batter loaded the bases for the Vulcans. Conor Carney flew out to left field to get the margin back to two at 4-2.
In the top of the ninth, an error and a hit batter put the tying run on base for the Eagles with one out. After a foul out to first base, Luke Goforth (Blacksburg, Va.) ripped a base hit to left-center field to make it a one-run game but a fielder's choice ground out ended the comeback bid.
Miller paced a C-N offense that cranked out 10 hits going 3-for-4 with a run scored. Zach Boze (Gallatin, Tenn.) added a pair of hits in four trips to the plate. Three different Eagles drove in a run.
The bullpen allowed on earned run on one hit in 3 1/3 innings fanning five batters. Ethan Patch (Whitehall, N.Y.) took the loss allowing three earned runs on eight hits and four walks over 4 2/3 frames.
Jaret Muckley earned the win giving up two earned on five hits over six stanzas. The Vulcans pitching staff struck out just one batter in the game.
Three players finished with two hits with Stewart going 2-for-3 with a walk, an RBI and a run scored. Each starter reached base at least once in the game.
The Eagles return home for the first of four games at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex starting on Tuesday against Young Harris at 2 p.m. Fans can watch on FloSports with a subscription or listen live on cneagles.com/live with coverage from the Eagle Sports Network.
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