HARTSVILLE, S.C. – Carson-Newman (24-26) never got into a groove offensively and fell 15-3 in an elimination game against Wingate (29-23) on Saturday night at Tom J. New field.
The Bulldogs have now won seven of the last eight meetings against Carson-Newman in postseason play.
Spencer Williams (Seymour, Tenn.) led C-N offensively with two hits to extend his on-base streak to 25 games to end the season. Logan Floyd (Adairsville, Ga.) extended his hit streak to seven straight games with a base hit as well.
Opportunities were there early for Carson-Newman. Spencer Williams (Seymour, Tenn.) started the bottom of the first with a single and moved to second on a wild pitch. Three consecutive strikeouts ended the frame and left Williams stranded at second base.
Wingate's offense excelled at two-out hitting early on. Ricky Clark and Lane Rhodes went back to back with RBI base hits to put Wingate ahead 2-0 after two innings. Carson-Newman stranded two runners in scoring position in the bottom half of the inning.
Sean Barnett increased the WU lead in the third inning with a two-out solo home run to make it 3-0.
Carson-Newman once again got a runner in scoring position with less than two outs but came up empty in the third inning.
Harrison Travis (Soddy Daisy, Tenn.) started the bottom of the fourth inning with a leadoff single but the Eagles managed nothing else in the frame.
Wingate added to its lead in the fifth inning on a RBI single with one out to make the score 4-0.
The Eagles got on the board for the first time, as James Denten (Mt. Prospect, I.ll) hit a sac fly to right field to make it a 4-1 game after five innings.
WU answered right back with four more runs, with two base hits that never left the infield and C-N trailed by seven runs.
Carson-Newman fought back in the bottom half; Spencer Bright slapped an RBI single over the third baseman's head to plate two more runs in the sixth inning.
It was all Wingate from that point on. WU broke the game open in the top of the seventh inning, scoring four more runs on three consecutive RBI base hits and it was 12-3 after seven innings.
The Bulldogs capped their scoring with three more runs in the eighth inning to run-rule the Eagles. WU recorded 19 hits to score 15 runs.
Andrew Bench suffered his second loss of the season, throwing 4 1/3 innings allowing four runs on six hits with two punchouts.
Five different WU hitters had three-hit nights, with four guys driving in multiple runs. Rhodes led the way with four RBI. Dylan Story won his fourth game of the season going five innings and allowing just one run.
The Eagles season comes to a close with a 24-26 overall record, winning a postseason game for the fourth consecutive season.
For updates throughout the offseason, stay tuned to cneagles.com.
