NEWBERRY, S.C. – Facing elimination in the South Atlantic Conference Baseball Tournament, Carson-Newman (25-22) dug deep and scored eight unanswered runs in the final three innings to take down Tusculum (25-24) on Saturday afternoon at Smith Road Complex in Newberry, South Carolina.
It was Tusculum that got out to the good start. With one out in the bottom of the first, Christian Ortega reached on an infield single hustling to third on a base hit to left center by Tyler Ranel. Zach Brunet opened the scoring with a ground out to second giving the Pioneers a 1-0 edge.
In the bottom of the third, there were two outs and a runner at first base when Rudy Fernandez double down the right-field line to put runners at second and third base. A wild pitch allowed a run to touch home pushing the margin to 2-0.
Will Samuelson drew a lead-off walk in the last of the fourth going to second base on a sacrifice bunt. Kayl Ratliff roped a double to the gap in left-center field extending the margin to three.
C-N came to life in the seventh inning. Two singles and a walk loaded the bases for Aiden Gibson (Cleveland, Tenn.). The freshman delivered a single through the left side, scoring two runs and bringing the Eagles within a run. The 7th inning surge continued, as next batter Spencer Williams (Seymour, Tenn.) followed with a two RBI single up the middle putting the Eagles ahead 4-3. The Eagles capped the five-run inning, as Williams scored on a wild pitch. C-N entered the inning with just four hits in the inning and had five alone in the 7th.
With two more runners in scoring position in the eighth, Gibson delivered once more, driving in two more runs to increase the Eagles lead to 7-3.
Griffin's group added an extra insurance run in the ninth inning, as James Denten (Mt. Prospect, Ill.) scored on a wild pitch and the lead grew to 8-3.
Tyler Shaver (Dandridge, Tenn.) got the start, recording ten outs in the outing. The senior allowed three runs on five hits, striking out two Pioneer hitters.
In relief of Shaver, Jake Wright (Ringgold, Ga.) was masterful throwing 5 2/3 innings of scoreless baseball. The all-conference selection struck out four TU hitters and walked just three, earning his fourth win of the season.
Joining Gibson and Denton with multi hit days, were Nelson Smith, Zach Boze (Gallatin, Tenn.) and Dalton McLain (Greeneville, Tenn.). These five hitters combined for 11 of C-N's 14 hits.
Tusculum's Drew Sliwinski took the loss, giving up two runs on three base hits, while not recording an out in relief. Three different Pioneers had multiple hits in the loss.
Carson-Newman stays alive in the SAC Tournament and will take the field at 6:30 p.m. against Lenoir-Rhyne in another elimination game this evening.
Follow along on Twitter @CN_Eagles for updates throughout tonight's game.
