VIDEO: Tanner Kilgore Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – For the second straight season, Carson-Newman (3-0) sweeps King (0-3) on opening-weekend, winning the series finale 7-6 on Sunday afternoon at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex.
The Eagles have started a season 3-0 for the third time in the past four years. It's the program's eighth 3-0 start since 1990, with five of those coming in the Tom Griffin era.
"Credit to King for bouncing back after yesterday," Carson-Newman head coach Tom Griffin said. "We knew they would and I thought their relief kept them in it and made some big pitches. We stayed in it long enough thanks to the relief work we got from Xavier Hart and Jaxon Seritt and then Eli Norris there at the end. That was electric and really fun. Both teams needed that kind of a game to see how you respond from it."
Tanner Kilgore (Kingsport, Tenn.) had a terrific day at the plate and came up clutch when his team needed him in the seventh inning. The sophomore first baseman had a pair of doubles that drove in three runs, his second which came in the seventh inning to put C-N ahead for good.
"Yesterday I struggled at the plate," Kilgore said. "Today, I had to come back and stay with what was going for me in the preseason and to stay confident. That really worked for me."
Nicholas Castellana (Lancaster, N.Y) had C-N's other multi-hit day, going two for four at the plate with a RBI. In a pinch-hit spot, Ryan Bolton drove in his first run of the season.
King scored the game's first run in the top of the first inning. A leadoff single followed by a failed pickoff attempt put a runner in scoring position for Levi Medford. He delivered with a two-out single to start the scoring.
As it did yesterday, the Eagles responded in the bottom of the first. After getting the first two runners aboard, Kilgore drove them in with a two-run double into the left-center field gap to give C-N the 2-1 advantage. Castellana traded places with Kilgore with a double of his own to make it 3-1 Eagles after the opening inning.
Trey Miller (Rocky Point, N.Y) would help C-N tack on another run in the second inning. After drawing a one-out walk, he later stole second and advanced third on a wild pitch. Later in Seth Benner's at bat with two outs, King starting pitcher Russell Hunley threw another wild pitch and allowed Miller to score to make it a 4-1 game.
King scored the next three runs, one each in innings three through five. Michael Starrs drove in two of those three runs, including his solo home run to left field that tied the game at four in the fifth inning.
Hunley mowed down 10 straight Eagles after the final out of the second inning, to blank C-N in innings three through six. He extended that streak to 12 batters to start the sixth inning but got into trouble late in the innings. Aiden Gibson (Cleveland, Tenn.) and Castellana went back-to-back with two-out singles to put runners on the corners. A walk loaded the bases to set the stage from Bolton. The redshirt-sophomore delivered with an infield single to push C-N back in front 6-4 after six innings.
The Tornado showed fight once more and did not allow Carson-Newman to record a shutdown inning. The first three runners in the inning reached base to help King score twice, once off a base hit and the second time off a sacrifice fly. Jaxon Seritt (Knoxville, Tenn.) helped limit that damage, and made King strand two runners in scoring position to end the frame.
C-N took the lead right back in the bottom half of the seventh inning. A one-out double from Benner, gave Kilgore an opportunity with two outs. He delivered with his second double of the game to score Benner and put the Eagles back in front.
BIG TIME HIT @TannerKilgore2
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CN_Eagles) February 2, 2025
�� @CNBaseball 7
��️ King 6
Bot 7th
��https://t.co/PNb1NbGvFS @FloCollegeBSB
��https://t.co/gipZ7woHxo
��https://t.co/hiIvfnQa8x pic.twitter.com/EmuNzoZjVr
Seritt tossed another zero in the eighth inning to setup a save opportunity for closer Eli Norris (Ringgold, Ga.). The senior right-hander slammed the door with a pair of strikeouts in a 1-2-3 ninth for his first career save.
Seritt tossed two scoreless innings out of the bullpen to record his second career victory and first of the season. Xavier Hart (Sellersburg, In) led C-N in strikeouts with four over 2 2/3 innings of work.
Bransen Angel (Lutz, FL) made his first career start two earned runs on seven hits with three strikeouts in 3 1/3 innings of work.
Eight batters in the King order had at least one hit, with three recording to two. Starrs and Medford each had two RBI days at the dish. Connor Haynes took the loss on the mound, pitching the final two innings with his only run allowed being the go-ahead run.
Carson-Newman gets one day off before returning to action on Tuesday afternoon for its first road game of the 2025 season. The Eagles travel to Rome, Georgia to take on the Shorter Hawks. First pitch is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. An audio-only stream of the contest is available at cneagles.com/live.
