April 4, 2025

Eagles Walked Off in Hartsville Heartbreaker

Carson-Newman Baseball was handed its first walk-off loss in three seasons at the hands of a hungry Coker team.

#13/7 Carson-Newman

26-10, 15-4

Coker

21-15, 10-9

Final

#13/7 Carson-Newman

Coker

VIDEO: Tom Griffin Interview

HARTSVILLE, S.C. – Carson-Newman Baseball was handed its first walk-off loss in three seasons at the hands of a hungry Coker team.

No. 13/7 Carson-Newman (26-10, 15-4 South Atlantic Conference) was walked off for the first time since the 2022 SAC Tournament by Coker (21-15, 10-9 SAC) which used the win to snap a six-match losing skid in a 7-6 decision.

"This is a tough one," Carson-Newman baseball head coach Tom Griffin said. "We had some opportunities, we felt like, and you got to get a big hit. You give yourself a chance, someone's gotta get the hit, we just didn't get it to extend that lead."

The game started as well as the Eagles could have hoped for, Carson-Newman plated five runs in the top of the first to set a commanding tone that began with a Cole Nathan (Knoxville, Tenn.) RBI single into right field, that turned into a three-bagger with the second error of the inning from the Cobra defense.

After RBI singles from Aiden Gibson (Cleveland, Tenn.) and Frankie Delgado (Deltona, Fla.), Trey Miller (Rocky Point, N.Y.) capped off a stretch of six straight base hits from Eagle batters with an RBI double as C-N batted around in the first frame of play.

Coker took the punch, but got back up and fought back scratching across a run in the first before tagging on two more in each of the second and third innings.

The Eagles were able to get another run on the board in the third inning off an RBI sacrifice bunt from Delgado with runners on the corners. All six runs scored by the Eagles were unearned.

At the end of the third, the game entered a stalemate with neither team scoring for the next five innings. Coker reliever Britton Adams tossed six innings of relief throwing 108 pitches only allowing four hits while striking out six.

The Eagles weren't without their stellar performances on the bump. Carson-Newman collected shutout performances from Xavier Hart (Sellersburg, Ind.), Blake Cooper (Maryville, Tenn.), and Brock Culpepper (Murfreesboro, Tenn.).

The bullpen appearances from both teams shut out both offenses from the fourth through eighth innings until the bottom of the ninth gave Coker its final chance to tie the game, having been trailing 6-5 for a majority of the ballgame.

Eli Norris (Ringgold, Ga.) came in in the eighth inning with a chance for a six-out save and his ninth of the season. After collecting an inning-opening strikeout in the ninth, Norris walked Luke Peterson and hit Luke Alford who were both replaced by pinch runners.

Kyler Odom hit the first body blow for the Cobras with a game-tying RBI single through the right side scoring the tying run to put runners at the corners with just one out in a tied game. On the very next batter, it was Hunter Poole, the Cobra hero as he sent a dribbler back to Norris with the pinch runner Jack Goldberg sprinting for home, Norris had to make a quick throw to the catcher Delgado, but it sailed high allowing Goldberg to cross the plate safely to walk it off for Coker.

The two ninth-inning runs were the first for either side since the third inning, and it handed Norris his first losing decision of the season. It was the first time Carson-Newman had been walked off since James Eckert of Wingate walked off the Eagles at the 2022 SAC Tournament at Smokies Stadium in Kodak, Tenn.

It was a story of missed opportunities for both sides as the Cobras and Eagles combined to leave 24 runners on base, 13 by C-N and 11 by Coker.

The Eagles will now have to sweep Saturday's doubleheader to win its ninth straight series to start the season, a feat that was last accomplished on February 22 at Newberry, when C-N dropped a pitcher's duel on Friday night before it swept the Saturday doubleheader against the Wolves.

Carson-Newman will seek the series victory on Saturday, April 5 at noon. A free audio stream will be available courtesy of the Eagle Sports Network at cneagles.com/live.

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