JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (5-4) was unable to overcome an explosive Cedarville (1-5) offense in a 17-13 loss in the series finale Saturday afternoon at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex.
"They were really good," Carson-Newman head baseball coach Tom Griffin said. "They had great approaches, they didn't miss fastballs. I thought they had good swings all weekend. Good club, Matt's done a great job. Our starter wasn't great, and we came back and got four runs back and then gave it up. Defensively we weren't great and clean as we should be. We weren't very effective with our secondary stuff. I've got to be better at the communication and the teaching because we are making way too many mistakes and the mindset is not where it needs to be."
The Yellow Jackets secured their first win of the season and their first win over C-N as well. Thanks to a doubleheader sweep on Friday, C-N still won the series and has won seven straight home series' dating back to the 2022 season.
Cedarville started scoring right away in the top of the first inning. After two outs in the first three batters, a hit by pitch put two runners on for Lucas Rotello who stroked a ball to center field for a three-run home run and the Yellow Jackets led 3-0 after one.
C-N was able to respond quickly in the bottom of the frame. After an error and a walk, two runners were aboard with two outs. Tanner Kilgore (Kingsport, Tenn.) stepped up and delivered an RBI double down the left field line to trim the deficit to two. Next batter Harrison Travis (Soddy Daisy, Tenn.) clobbered the first pitch over the left field wall and C-N gained its first lead of the day, 4-3 after one full inning.
The Yellow Jackets did more damage in the top of the second inning, once again with two outs. Boston Torres doubled in two runs and Brendan Colley homered to left to cap and a four-run second inning to put Cedarville back ahead 7-4.
Cedarville added onto the lead in the third inning after a Brock Culpepper (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) wild pitch.
C-N was able to get one run back in the bottom of that inning. After a pair of walks to began the inning, Travis flew out to left field to score Denten from third and the Cedarville advantage was 8-5 after three innings.
The middle innings were dominated by the Yellow Jackets. The Cedarville pitching staff blanked C-N for four straight innings and scored seven runs through innings five and six. A throwing error and a fielder's choice scored the first two runs of the fifth inning. The final two runs of the fifth came off a Torres double into the right center field gap.
Three more runs scored in the sixth for Cedarville, off two base hits and an RBI groundout by Eli Henderson. C-N's deficit was ten runs after six innings.
Cedarville increased the margin to twelve on a Kade Ebling two RBI double down the right field line in the eighth inning.
The C-N offense finally answered in the bottom of the eighth inning. Luke Goforth (Blacksburg, Va.) singled through the left side with the bases loaded to score a run. Next batter Ryan Bolton (Knoxville, Tenn.) hit a sacrifice fly to right field to plate the second run of the inning. The scoring concluded with Frankie Delgado (Deltona, Fla.) drawing a seven-pitch walk to score the third run of the inning.
The Eagles would not go down without a fight. Pinch hitter Evan Mutter recorded his first career hit with a single to right field to kickstart the bottom of the ninth. After a hit by pitch and single, Goforth delivered again with another single, this one which plated two runs. After a pop out, Kilgore doubled to right center and two more runners scored and it was 17-12. Delgado followed with his first career hit on a single to score Kilgore to cap the 30-run contest.
The freshman Kilgore finished the day going 3 for 4 at the plate, driving in three runs. Travis drove in four while Goforth off the bench also drove in three runs.
Culpepper took the loss for C-N after going 2 innings and allowing five runs on four hits. The Eagles used nine pitchers with only three recording scoreless outings.
Cedarville got a six-hit day from Ebling who also scored three times and drove in three runs. Torres had a team-high four RBI and had four hits.
Levi Coriell got the win and settled down C-N's offense in the middle innings. He threw three scoreless innings and didn't allow any hits.
Carson-Newman is back in action on Tuesday traveling to Lee for a midweek matchup. First pitch is set for 2:00 p.m. with an audio-only stream on cneagles.com/live.
