WINGATE, N.C. – Wingate (26-17, 17-8 SAC) scored 11 unanswered runs in a four inning stretch to run away with a series-opening win over Carson-Newman (22-19, 15-10 SAC) Friday afternoon at Ron Christopher field, winning by a final score of 16-8.
"They barreled a lot of balls up," Carson-Newman head baseball coach Tom Griffin said. "We knew exactly what we were getting with this offense. It's a really good offense, especially in this park. We have to be able to locate and mix well and you can't make too many mistakes. I thought our guys did a good job offensively. We had a little stretch there where their reliever gave them some good innings and shut us down which allowed them to make that lead a little bigger. It was just one of those days. We will battle tomorrow, which I know our guys will do."
The loss is the first time in nearly a month that C-N has lost the first game in a series, doing so just three times this season.
Harrison Travis led C-N 's 13 hit attack with three hits, two of which were home runs while driving in four runs. Spencer Williams and Dalton McLain each had two hit days at the plate as well while James Denten drove in two runs.
Wingate began the scoring surge as Brett Adams hit a two-out home run over the center field wall to make it 2-0 Bulldogs in the 1st inning.
Harrison Travis (Soddy Daisy, Tenn.) got the scoring started for C-N by sending his eleventh home run of the year over the right field wall to make it 2-1.
Lane Rhodes answered Travis' home run with his fourth of the year and it was 3-1 Bulldogs after two innings.
After the first batter of the top of the third inning was retired, C-N went on its own surge offensively sparked by a Spencer Bright single back up the middle. That hit was followed up with two more singles to load the bases. James Denten (Mt Prospect, Ill.) followed with a four consecutive base knock on a double to right center to tie the game at three. Travis came back to the dish and homered for the second straight at bat on a 1-1 pitch and C-N grabbed its first lead of the day thanks to a five-run third inning.
WU went back to work offensively by scoring two more runs in the third inning to make it a 6-5 game after three innings.
The Eagles grew the lead back to two runs on a Spencer Williams (Seymour, Tenn.) base hit to right field and the C-N advantage was 7-5 after the top of the fourth inning.
Wingate once again responded with back-to-back base hits to score three more times in the fourth inning to regain a one-run lead after four innings.
That began a stretch where the Bulldogs would score eleven unanswered runs on Carson-Newman, scoring five times in the fifth, capped off by a Sean Barnett three-run home run to make it a 13-7 game.
The Bulldogs added runs in the sixth and seventh innings, scoring in every inning but the eighth.
WU reliever Brent Walls helped put together four consecutive zeros until C-N was able to strike for a run in the 9th inning. With two outs, Will Gibbs (Harrisburg, Ill.) launched his first career home run over the left field wall in a pinch hitting effort.
WU's Brett Adams had four hits and six RBI, hitting two home runs. Sean Barnett had three hits and four RBI as well.
The series concludes and wraps up with a doubleheader starting tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. The contests will air with an audio-only stream on cneagles.com/live. They can also be viewed on FloSports by going to cneagles.com/flobase
