JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – A seven-run third inning was enough comfort for Young Harris (22-5) to slug its way past Carson-Newman (12-12) 16-7 on Tuesday afternoon at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex.
"Seven runs in one inning is certainly going to be tough to overcome," Carson-Newman head baseball coach Tom Griffin said. "I think the seven runs from the seventh to the ninth don't help either. That's a really good club and one of the best teams in the region. They have good awareness of breaking balls and a very confident offensive team. We really didn't do anything well today. There is a lot that encompasses playing good baseball. Today was not good baseball."
Carson-Newman hit four home runs in the game, doing so for the first time since April of 2022. Over the last four games, C-N has hit nine home runs as a team.
When it looked like Carson-Newman was going to cruise through the second inning, Brock Culpepper (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) allowed an 0-2 single and then two more two out singles followed to get Young Harris the 1-0 lead.
The Mountain Lions offense came to life in the third inning. A pair of one-out walks was all YHC needed to get going. Back-to-back RBI base hits made it 3-0. Next batter Marco Colina launched a 1-0 pitch just inside the left field foul pole for a three-run home run. The scoring continued with a home run and an error to cap a seven-run third inning for the Mountain Lions.
YHC added its ninth run on its third home run of the game to start the fourth inning.
The Eagles got on the board in a loud way in the fifth inning. Sam Astern hit his first home run of the season and the second of his career to get C-N on the board.
More damage was done by the Mountain Lions in the sixth inning as Steven Spell roped a double down the left field line to score YHC's 10th run of the game.
Nicholas Castellana (Lancaster, N.Y.) answered the run by hitting his third home run of the season.
Home runs continued to be hit between both clubs as Smallwood went yard for the second time today to make it a 12-2 game after the top of the seventh inning.
Carson-Newman continued to create offense with the long ball as Ryan Potts (Dandridge, Tenn.) went yard for the second time in his career to make it a 12-4 game.
The Eagles scored for a fourth straight inning when pinch hitter Ryan Bolton muscled a ball through the right side, but C-N still trailed by eight.
Young Harris put the finishing touches on its 22nd win with a three-run ninth.
C-N continued to put up a fight offensively and got it with another home run. Junior Luke Goforth (Blacksburg, V.A.) sent his first career home run over the center field wall to make it 16-7.
The Eagles offense went down swinging by scoring all seven runs in the final five frames and 11 of the 13 hits came then as well.
Entering the day, YHC's Mark Castle was 0 for his last 18 at the plate but finished the game with a four-hit day. Four others finished with multi-hit days as well.
Culpepper took the loss for C-N, his fourth of the season. In relief, freshman Ryan Higgins (Spotsylvania, Va.) struck out four hitters in his 2 1/3 innings of work. Nolan Rogers (Dandridge, Tenn.) threw a scoreless ninth, working around two walks.
Carson-Newman continues its homestand this weekend as it welcomes Catawba to the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex for a three-game series starting Friday afternoon. All three contests 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.
