VIDEO: Spencer Williams Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Behind stellar bullpen pitching once again and late-game heroics in game two, Carson-Newman (5-3) swept Cedarville (0-5) in a twin bill Friday afternoon at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex.
"The bullpen has been tremendous," Carson-Newman head baseball coach Tom Griffin said. "Hunter Harritan, Grif Hughes Jake Wright those are some pretty good guys coming out of the pen. Jake Wright in both games today was excellent, his stuff was just as good in the second game. We all feel like he has a future to play somewhere after Carson-Newman. That was awesome to see the job he did today. Hunter was great giving us scoreless innings when we were behind to keep the deficit at 3 and allowed us to get back into it. The pitching has been very good for us."
Securing both games of the doubleheader and two of the three games in the series, Carson-Newman has now won seven straight home series' dating back to the 2022 season.
The Eagles bullpen was phenomenal for the third straight game and now has thrown 16 consecutive scoreless innings.
Game One: Carson-Newman 3, Cedarville 1
Dalton McLain (Greeneville, Tenn.) got things started for C-N in the first inning, drawing a leadoff walk. After a strikeout, McLain stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error. James Denten (Mt. Prospect, Ill.) drove him in with a sacrifice fly to left field to make it 1-0.
After back-to-back singles in the third inning, Logan Floyd (Adairsville, GA.) hit a soft ground ball to shortstop that allowed McLain to get a good jump and score on to increase the C-N lead to 2-0.
Next half inning, Alex Neff cut into the deficit for the Yellow Jackets. The DH homered on a 2-2 pitch to leadoff the frame and the Yellow Jackets drew within a run.
Cedarville threatened to tie it in the fifth inning. Two runners reached with less than two outs, but a fake pickoff attempt fooled the base runner who was picked off to end the inning.
Carson-Newman got an insurance run with an out in the sixth inning. Trey Miller (Rocky Point, N.Y.) launched his first home run of the season and the margin increased back to 3-1.
After Grif Hughes (Knoxville, Tenn.) got the final out of the fifth inning, the left-hander set the tone for his strong relief outing. He went 3 1/3 innings and struck out five Cedarville batters.
Jake Wright (Ringgold, Ga.) slammed the door in the ninth, striking out the side to record his second save of the season and the 12th of his C-N career.
Between Pridmore, Hughes and Wright, the trio combined for a season-high 15 strikeouts. The relievers Hughes and Wright combined to go 4 1/3 innings, strikeout eight and allow zero hits.
Game Two: Carson-Newman 7, Cedarville 3
Cedarville got the scoring started in game two by getting a pair of singles with two outs in the first inning. The runners advanced into scoring position off a wild pitch, and both scored off passed balls later in the frame to put the Yellow Jackets up 2-0.
The Eagles tried to answer in the bottom of the inning after getting leadoff singles from McLain and Spencer Williams, but C-N struck out twice and came up empty. There were chances in the second inning as well. Ryan Potts (Dandridge, Tenn.) and Will Gibbs (Harrisburg, Ill.) both singled and were in scoring position but C-N was unable to take advantage there either.
For the second time, Ness led off an inning with a solo home run and the Cedarville lead increased to 3-0.
A pair of hit by pitches got things started for C-N in the third inning. A sacrifice bunt moved the runners into scoring position but an out at the plate and a pop ended another threat.
C-N took advantage of Cedarville mistakes in the fourth inning. After a pair of one out walks, C-N scored a run off a pickoff error by the pitcher Jensen Waggoner, the ball was also bobbled by the centerfielder Max Doepker and that allowed Ryan Potts to score from second to make it 3-1. McLain followed the error with a two-out double down the left field line scoring Miller to draw C-N within a run.
The Eagles kept the deficit at one run thanks to another scoreless inning from Hunter Harritan (Huntersville, N.C.). He battled through a pair of hits and a walk to complete a third scoreless frame and stranded two Yellow Jacket hitters in the inning.
Carson-Newman made Cedarville pay in the sixth inning as well. After a leadoff single from Aiden Gibson, relief pitcher Wyatt Petek walked three straight batters missing on 12 of his 15 pitches. The third batter he walked was McLain which scored Gibson from third to tie the game at 3. After a pitching change was made, Spencer Williams stepped up to the plate and delivered, smashing a ball over the right field wall for a go-ahead grand slam to lift C-N to a 7-3 lead and a five-run sixth inning. The home run was the first of his career.
"We haven't put up a crooked number in a while and thankfully we were able to do that," Griffin said. "Spencer Williams, lefty on lefty. Two of our players said to keep him in and let him hit. They made the decision to keep him in there and that was a great swing. We really needed it. It felt like when that happened, it allowed everyone to breathe. We've been waiting for that big hit to get excited. The players needed that for each other."
Wright came in and closed the door just like he did the first game, recording the final three outs in relief of Harritan to secure the 7-3 win. Harritan earned his first win of the season in relief going three scoreless, allowing three hits and striking out two.
The comeback win game two is the third time C-N has comeback and won a game this season.
McLain and Williams each had two hits in the second game to pace the attack. Those two outfielders combined to drive in six of the team's ten runs between the two games.
The series wraps up tomorrow afternoon at 1:00 p.m. The contest 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.
