JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman pitching did not allow a hit until two outs in the sixth inning picking up its second shutout of the season beating Tusculum 13-0 on Wednesday at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex.
"Grif Hughes gave us a good start," Carson-Newman coach Tom Griffin said. "The real big thing was the pitching has been really solid. That's the thing that has really improved tremendously with some of these guys coming in. Early in the game we didn't execute the sacrifice bunt and had a base running mistake. I'm not going to ever argue with a win like that."
The Eagles record their first shutout of the Pioneers since March 26, 2006 while scoring their most runs in the series since winning 14-6 on March 25, 1993. Carson-Newman (9-11) runs its winning streak to a season-high three in a row while handing Tusculum (14-5) its seventh consecutive road loss.
For the first time this season, the Eagles got a lead-off long ball as Trey Miller (Rocky Point, N.Y.) turned on a 0-2 pitch cranking the offering down the line in left field for his third bomb of the season opening up a 1-0 lead.
Nelson Smith (Goodlettsville, Tenn.) drew a one-out walk in the second, stole second base and advanced to third base on a throwing error by the catcher. On a bouncer back to the mound, Smith forced a throwing error by the hurler scoring from third base. Will Gibbs (Harrisburg, Ill.) shoveled a run-scoring hit into right field to stretch the lead to 3-0.
With the bases loaded and two outs in the third, Smith laced a ball past the diving third baseman and into left field to plate a pair and swell the bulge to 5-0.
The Eagles matched their highest scoring inning of the season scoring seven times in the fourth inning to blow open a 12-0 advantage behind six walks and a hit batter. A wild pitch opened the inning then a string of three straight free passes made it a four-run inning. Aiden Gibson (Cleveland, Tenn.) bounced a two-run single to left field and Gibbs added a base knock to blow the game open at 12-0.
Miller bookended the scoring by launching a solo dinger to lead off the eighth inning on a 2-2 offering pushing the margin out to 13-0.
Seven pitchers combined for a three-hit shutout with the Eagles giving up one hit through the first 8 1/3 before two singles in the ninth. C-N pitchers fanned 13 batters with Grif Hughes (Knoxville, Tenn.) punching out five and Jackson Harbin (Gastonia, N.C.) logging four strikeouts.
Smith drove in three runs and three batters tallied two hits led by a 2-for-4 day from Miller scoring four times and a 2-for-3 afternoon with two RBIs by Gibbs.
"We just had fun," Miller said. "Grif Hughes started it off. He went 1-2-3 and it got us in the dugout energized. We carried it on from there. It's all about being the sparkplug. The other day I went 0-for-7 but defensively I had to be there for our pitchers and stay in the game."
Tusculum's three hits came by three different players going 1-for-16 at the plate with runners on base. Four pitchers combined to give up the 13 runs before Jacob Willett tossed two scoreless innings to end the game with three strikeouts.
The Eagles host UVA Wise this weekend for a three-game series starting on Friday. All three games will air on the Eagle Sports Network with video available on FloSports with a paid subscription and an audio-only stream on cneagles.com/live.
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