JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – In a game that featured five home runs, Young Harris belted three long balls and scored the final four runs of the game to hand Carson-Newman its first home loss of the season 10-7 on Tuesday at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex.
"We had great attitudes and great effort," Carson-Newman coach Tom Griffin said. "That was the only two things we asked them to bring and they did. The execution wasn't very good. Way too many mistakes to give them free bases. We aren't playing clean and executing."
The Eagles were 5-0 at the friendly confines to start the year as Young Harris (11-5) remains undefeated against Carson-Newman (6-10) in the all-time series winning for the seventh time.
Young Harris had not scored in the last 23 1/3 innings before Jackson Kemp hit a towering fly ball to left-center field that left the yard for his first homer of the year to put the visitors on top 2-0.
After the first two men were retired in the third, Jarrett Ford fell behind 0-2 before cranking a fastball over the fence in left-center field to stretch the differential to 3-0.
With one out in the fourth, James Denten (Mt. Prospect, Ill.) bounced a base hit into right field. Three pitches later on a 1-1 offering, Mitchell Balint (Avondale, Pa.) launched a two-run homer to left field to make it a 3-2 contest.
Carson-Newman exploded for four runs in the bottom of the fifth to jump ahead 6-2. With a runner aboard, Trey Miller (Rocky Point, N.Y.) cranked the first pitch he saw over the left-center field wall to put the Eagles on top. Balint and Zach Boze (Gallatin, Tenn.) added a run-producing triple and double to cap the four-run inning.
In the top of the seventh, Marco Colina sliced a ball down the right-field line to plate a pair and inch the Mountain Lions within a run. With two outs, Ford struck out but a wild pitch allowed him to reach and bring in the tying run to level the score at six.
Denten led off the seventh inning with a hustle double to right-center field. He was standing at third base with two outs when Spencer Williams (Seymour, Tenn.) fouled off five pitches in a row down 1-2 in the count before lining the ninth pitch he saw into the left-center field alley to put the home crew ahead 7-6.
Kemp started the eighth inning with a game-tying solo blast to left field. An error on a failed pickoff attempt and a sacrifice bunt put Jeremy Begora at third base before he scored on a wild pitch to put the Mountain Lions back on top 8-7.
Young Harris tacked on a pair in the ninth getting a sacrifice fly from Begora and James Basham doubled to left-center field putting the Eagles behind by three at 10-7.
The Eagles held a 15-13 edge in the hits column and held the Mountain Lions to 2-for-13 hitting with runners in scoring position. Five players registered a multi-hit game but the six through nine batters combined to go 2-for-19. Miller finished a double shy of the cycle with his fourth multi-hit game of the year. Balint tallied a 2-for-3 day with three RBIs with two runs scored.
Kemp went 3-for-4 with two long balls, three RBIs and two runs scored as one of five players with at least two knocks. Michael Buice fanned four over the final 2 1/3 innings to earn his first win of the year.
The Eagles host Mars Hill for a three-game series this weekend to open up South Atlantic Conference action. Viewers can watch the game on FloSports with a paid subscription with an audio-only stream available on cneagles.com/live from the Eagle Sports Network.
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