April 16, 2025

Eagles run away from King for midweek win

No. 14 Carson-Newman (31-12) scored runs in six consecutive innings to defeat King (12-30) 12-6 on Wednesday afternoon at the King Baseball Field.

#14 Carson-Newman

31-12

King (Tenn.)

12-30

Final

#14 Carson-Newman

King (Tenn.)

VIDEO: Tom Griffin Interview

VIDEO: Tanner Kilgore Interview

BRISTOL, Tenn. – No. 14 Carson-Newman (31-12) scored runs in six consecutive innings to defeat King (12-30) 12-6 on Wednesday afternoon at the King Baseball Field.

"We got hit early," Carson-Newman head coach Tom Griffin said. "It was a windy day and the ball was going to play some havoc. King was coming off a big weekend series win, so we knew it was going to be one of those midweek games that goes back and forth. Christian Henderson was really good. Bransen Angel had a really good outing and really liked what Jeb Shuler did in the 9th inning. This is a good midweek win, these games are important down the stretch for sure. That was good for us."

Carson-Newman completes the season sweep of King, winning all four games between the two clubs this season. The Eagles have now won 11 of the past 12 meetings in the series as well.

The Eagles offense scored 12 runs, reaching the double-digit scoring mark for the third time in the last five games and for the 11th time this season.

Two sophomores played a big part offensively in Carson-Newman's six run win. Tanner Kilgore (Kingsport, Tenn.) matched his career-high with three hits and scored three runs, while Cole Nathan (Knoxville, Tenn.) continued to rake at the plate, driving in three runs on two hits. Ryan Jenkins (Winter Haven, Fla.) joined Nathan with a three RBI day at the plate, while four other Eagles hitters drove in runs as well.

It was King that drew first blood. With two on base and one out, Nathan Borchardt drilled a home run over the center field wall to make it 3-0 King after the opening inning.

Nathan would trim into the deficit. After a long at bat, he won the battle, launching a 3-2 pitch over the left center field wall for his third home run of the year.

The Eagles scored three more runs in the top of the third inning to take the lead. Logan Floyd (Adairsville, Ga.) drove in a run with a RBI single and then the tying run scored on a balk. Nathan gave C-N its first lead with a sac fly to make it 4-3.

The Tornado would strike back to go in front. Two RBI singles in the bottom of the third inning put King up by 1 through three innings.

C-N's success at the plate continued into the fourth inning. Jenkins roped a bases-clearing double down the left field line to plate three runs and put Carson-Newman back in front by two runs.

Fortunately for C-N, that lead would never relinquish and would only extend. Kilgore singled in a run and Frankie Delgado (Deltona, Fla.) hit a sac fly to plate two more runs for the Eagles in the fifth inning.

Carson-Newman scored once more in the sixth inning. Nathan singled in his third run of the game with two outs to extend C-N's lead to 10-5 in the sixth inning.

King's Michael Starrs got that run back with a sac fly, but C-N went back to work offensively in the seventh inning. Spencer Williams (Seymour, Tenn.) and Luke Goforth (Blacksburg, Va.) both drew back-to-back six pitch walks with the bases loaded to score a pair of runs and it was 12-6 after seven innings.

Bransen Angel (Lutz, Fla.) and Jeb Shuler (Robbinsville, N.C.) combined to keep King scoreless over the final three innings to give C-N its 31st win of the season.

Xavier Hart (Sellersburg, In.) recorded the win, improving to 3-0 on the year. In relief, Hart tossed two scoreless innings with a strikeout. Angel and Shuler also pitched scoreless innings as well.

King's Carson Whaley was dealt the loss, failing to record an out. In his four batters faced, he gave up three hits, three runs and walked a batter.

No. 14 Carson-Newman is back in action this weekend against first-place #12/11 Catawba. The three-game series begins on Friday at 6:00 p.m. in Salisbury, North Carolina. The game will air with a free audio stream available courtesy of the Eagle Sports Network on cneagles.com/live.