JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Tyler Shaver fanned a dozen and Mike Wroth hit three home runs to lead Carson-Newman in a bounce-back effort Saturday afternoon winning both games of a twin-bill 10-7 and 7-1 at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex to seal a second-straight South Atlantic Conference series win.
"It's not the team we are playing," Carson-Newman coach Tom Griffin said. "It's the baseball and themselves. We talk about the process. Yesterday I forgot that. When you get a start like Tyler Shaver gave you, it keeps you in the ball game and gives your offense a chance to do some things which they did. It was good to see Mike Wroth respond exceptionally well today."
The Eagles had dropped nine straight home meetings to the Lions prior to taking game one of the series. Carson-Newman (13-6, 4-2) beats Mars Hill (5-12, 3-3) at home for the first time since March 7, 2014 while taking a series in Tennessee over the Lions for the first time since March 16-17, 2012.
Tyler Shaver (Dandridge, Tenn.) logged his first start of the season in game one throwing 102 pitches over eight scoreless innings punching out a career-high 12 with two hits and three walks.
"Warming up before the game felt really good," Shaver said. "The slider was working. I knew they were a fastball hitting team so I am pretty sure that I started most of the batters with a slider. I trusted my off-speed more, kept the fastball off the plate and it worked."
Michael Wroth (Chicopee, Mass.) hit three home runs bringing his season total to seven passing his 2019 output of six. Overall the senior went 4-for-7 with seven RBIs and four runs scored over the two victories.
"I was trying to stick with my approach early and get something going," Wroth said. "I have been in a little bit of a slump lately but getting a base hit backside to get me going. My first one was on a 2-0 pitch that was middle-middle. I stayed inside and went with it. The other two I was fired up and ready to go."
Game One: CARSON-NEWMAN 10, Mars Hill 7
After Shaver cashed in a 1-2-3 first frame, the Eagles exploded for five runs in the bottom of the first. The first three batters reached via hit by pitch, walk and hit by pitch. A ground out from Wroth opened the scoring with Chris Caldwell (Seymour, Tenn.) driving in a pair with a triple of the wall in left. An error and a wild pitch brought home the other two runs.
An RBI double from Charlie Brown (Sevierville, Tenn.) in the third pushed it to 6-0 differential before Wroth blasted his first homer of the day, a three-run shot to center field on a 2-0 pitch in the fourth to expand the margin to 9-0.
Caldwell cranked a solo dinger on a 0-1 pitch to open the seventh inning, his second of the season, to push the lead out to 10-0.
Shaver retired the side in order in four of his eight innings with a runner reaching scoring position twice, in the fourth and fifth before the righty stranded the runners.
With a new pitcher on the mound, the Lions erased the shutout on an RBI single to right field by Austin Purser. If not for a catcher's interference call on a would-be game-ending ground out to short, the Eagles would have won 10-1 instead giving up six more runs before Carson Pack (Andersonville, Tenn.) induced a fly out to right field by Cody Cline to seal a save and a win.
Wroth and Caldwell combined for four hits, seven RBIs and four runs scored with the Eagles winning despite giving up more hits, nine, that it recorded, eight.
Luke Kimrey took the loss for the Lions registering one out in his start with five runs allowed on two walks and a hit falling to 1-3 on the season. No player had a multi-hit day but Austin Treadway and Jacob Legleiter drove in two runs each.
Game Two: CARSON-NEWMAN 7, Mars Hill 1
Once again a shutdown top of the first paved the way to early offense from the Eagles in the bottom half. After two punch outs open C-N's first go around, Zach Boze (Gallatin, Tenn.) worked a 10-pitch walk. Wroth drove a 0-2 offering over the fence in left field and the Eagles were up 2-0.
Mars Hill trimmed the deficit to one in the third when Ruben Trillo reached on an error with the bases loaded to make it a 2-1 affair. Hunter Long (Powell, Tenn.) picked up a strikeout on Casey Mawhinney to end the threat and preseve the lead.
Doubles from Brown and Tyler Thompson (Gallatin, Tenn.) added a pair to the C-N lead in the third to push the differential to 4-1. A wild pitch added insurance in the fifth.
With one out and no one on base in the sixth, Wroth pulled his final homer of the day inside of the pole down the left-field line on a 3-1 delivery. Three batters later, Malik Kyle (Jefferson City, Tenn.) singled to right field to add the final run of the day and make it a 7-1 contest.
Logan Cogburn (Friendsville, Tenn.) pitched the final four innings of relief racking up a career-high seven strikeouts giving up one hit and one walk to earn the save.
Wroth went 2-for-3 with three RBIs and two scored while Mark Treadway (Friendsville, Tenn.) posted a two-hit day as the Eagles outhit the Lions 9-2 on the afternoon.
AJ Chacon took the loss with his shortest start of the season firing three innings giving up four earned runs on seven hits and four walks fanning four.
The Eagles are back in action before their longest road trip of the year with a Wednesday afternoon meeting with Limestone starting at 2 p.m. from the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex. Coverage of the contest can be found on cneagles.com/live thanks to the Eagle Sports Network.
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