NEWBERRY, S.C. – Despite outhitting fifth-seeded Lenoir-Rhyne 10-5, Carson-Newman committed three errors and walked six despite a strong start from Noah Pridmore to start the 2023 South Atlantic Conference Baseball Championships falling to the Bears 7-3 Friday at the Smith Road Complex.
"Noah Pridmore threw really well," Carson-Newman coach Tom Griffin said. " He gave us a chance to win. He pitched well enough to win the game. The offense was absolutely atrocious. Zach Boze was really good which was great to see from a senior. We left too many guys on base. Most of the time today when we had a man in scoring position it was a strikeout. The bullpen at the end was bad. They weren't ready and today was just disappointing."
The Eagles stranded the bases loaded twice in the game and were 3-for-14 with runners in scoring position despite six of nine lead-off batters reaching safely. All told C-N left eight men on base.
Carson-Newman (24-22) falls to 16-10 in conference tournament games in South Carolina as Lenoir-Rhyne breaks a 4-4 tie in the series history in league tournament play.
The first six Bears' hitters were retired before Bryce Stober hit a bouncing ball off of Noah Pridmore's glove to lead off the third. He stole second and was at third base with one out. After a ground out, Blake Bean laced a double just past the second baseman into right-center field to start the scoring. Cole Laskowski hit a potential inning-ending grounder was hit back up the middle by an error extended the frame and allowed Bean to score to put the Bears ahead 2-0.
Zach Boze (Gallatin, Tenn.) notched the club's fifth hit of the day to ignite the fourth inning. He moved to second on a wild pitch and to third base on a balk before scoring on a sacrifice fly to right field from Dalton McLain (Greeneville, Tenn.) to make it a 2-1 contest.
With one out in the sixth, Ryan Potts (Dandridge, Tenn.) looped a base hit to right field. After a hit batter and a sacrifice bunt, the Eagles had runners at second and third with two outs. On a 0-1 pitch, Spencer Williams (Seymour, Tenn.) dumped a base hit to left-center to bring in the tying run while the go-ahead run was thrown out at the plate leaving the score tied at two.
The first three LR hitters drew walks to start the top of the eighth including the final two on four pitches. A wild pitch and sacrifice fly allowed two runs to come in and give the Bears a two-run lead back at 4-2.
Boze started the bottom of the eighth with a double down the left-field line past the third baseman. He moved to second base on a fly out before scoring on a two-out knock to left field by Ben Willcoxon (Dandridge, Tenn.) trimming the tally to 4-3.
Once again in the top of the ninth, the five seed loaded the bases with no outs. This time all three runners scored to blow the game open at 7-3. Two sacrifice flies were sandwiched around a Sal Carricato double to provide the cushion.
The Eagles went quietly in the ninth. Boze led the offense going 3-for-4 with two runs while Willcoxon and Williams each posted a pair of knocks. The bullpen pitched three innings giving up five earned runs walking five.
Pridmore finished with one of the best starts of his career tossing his team-leading fourth quality start of the year. The Ootlewah, Tenn. native allowed two unearned runs on three hits and a walk striking out two over six innings.
Carricato led the Bears at the plate going 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a run scored. Andrew Patrick started the game going 4 1/3 innings while Braden Houston finished it getting the final 10 outs allowing just one run.
The Eagles will play in an elimination game against the loser of top-seeded Newberry and No. 8 seed Tusculum on Saturday at 2:45 p.m.
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