NEWBERRY, S.C. – Carson-Newman (14-14, 7-3) led 2-1 heading into the 5th inning, but Newberry (24-4, 9-1) scored seven unanswered runs over final four innings to take defeat the Eagles 8-2 in the series opener at Smith Road Complex field Friday evening.
"Well, Noah Pridmore was tremendous on the mound," Carson-Newman head coach Tom Griffin said. "I thought him and Spencer (Bright) had good flow and routine with each other. They competed well in two strike counts, and we had our opportunities. When you have the bases loaded and no one out and take two fastballs and a chance to drive in some runs. That was indicative of how our hitters, not able to pull the trigger or to recognize what was happening. That is a well-coached team, and they don't hurt themselves. Russell Tripplett does a great job. I've always said that he is one of the best coaches I've seen coach."
Newberry's Henry Gibson started the scoring with a leadoff home run in the bottom of the second inning.
C-N wasted no time to respond back. The Eagles compiled three consecutive base hits to begin the 3rd, capped off by a James Denton (Mt. Prospect, Ill.) double to left to tie the game at 1. After a walk, Nelson Smith (Goodlettsville, Tenn.) stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and drew a five-pitch walk to give C-N the lead at 2-1. Back-to-back groundouts ended the inning, as the Eagles failed to capitalize on a prime opportunity to put up a crooked number.
"That was huge," Griffin said. "You don't get many opportunities against really good clubs and when you have that opportunity, good clubs put together crooked numbers. Tonight, we were not a good club."
The Wolves tied the game back up in the 5th after a Brody Winter RBI double to right center field. Next batter Jomar Lugo executed a safety squeeze to perfection, getting a bunt down to score Hunter French who was running on the pitch. After Lugo was thrown out at the plate, Denton attempted to pick off the runner Winter at third, but the throw was errant and allowed Winter to score, to give Newberry two runs on the play and a two-run lead.
Brody Winter continued his solid evening at the plate with a two-out home run to left center field in the 7th, to extend the Newberry lead to 5-2.
The lead was extended once more by the Wolves. Braylin Marine singled to right center to score Donovan Ford to make it 6-2. Jacob Lebron scored off a wild pitch and Marine also came around to score on a groundout to make the score 8-2.
After entering the game with the bases loaded and nobody out in the 3rd inning, reliever Gunnar Erickson put the C-N bats to sleep quickly. He finished the game, throwing seven scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and one walk and striking out three C-N hitters.
Junior Noah Pridmore (Ootlewah, Tenn.) once again pitched well for C-N. Pridmore tied his career-high with seven innings pitched for the second start in a row. He fanned three batters in the contest, while allowing six hits and five earned runs.
Five different Carson-Newman hitters each recorded a base hit in the losing effort.
Carson-Newman loses back-to-back games for the first time in the month of March.
The series wraps up tomorrow with a doubleheader starting at 1:00 p.m. You can listen to the games on the Eagle Sports Network with an audio stream available on cneagles.com/live.
