WINGATE, N.C. – When Carson-Newman (23-20, 16-11 SAC) needed to calm the Wingate bats, it turned to two of the best pitchers in the South Atlantic Conference in Grif Hughes and Hunter Harritan. The duo threw seven innings of one-run baseball to help the Eagles win the series finale 2-1 on Saturday evening at Ron Christopher Field.
"Their pitching is a product of good experience and hard work," Carson-Newman head baseball coach Tom Griffin said. "Coach Tingle and Coach Sofield have done a tremendous job of continuing their growth and then it comes down to a guy like Spencer Bright. He is an outstanding catcher, called a great game. The blocks, the game-savers he had late in the game. Not many catchers are making those plays. Great ballgame against a really great club. Both teams had to sit for awhile and then kick it back up. Fortunate to get at least one-run ahead thanks to our pitching and defense. That play at the end that Trey Miller made was the game saver. That ball was absolutely smoked, and he made a great play."
The win for C-N ended a seven-game losing streak against the Bulldogs and gives the Eagles an eighth victory in series finales this season. The win in the series finale also ended Carson-Newman's four game losing streak and helps the club stay in a tie for fourth place in the conference standings.
Wingate scored 26 runs on 33 hits in the first two games of the weekend, but was held to just one run on four hits in the series finale.
With hits in both games of the doubleheader, Spencer Williams has hit safely in a career-best ten straight games and has reached base in a career-best 19 straight games.
Game One: Wingate 10, Carson-Newman 8
Carson-Newman began the scoring with two outs in the first inning. Logan Floyd (Adairsville, Ga.) singled to right field to score a pair of runs. The Eagles continued the early scoring surge into the second inning. James Denten (Mt Prospect, Ill.) hit a sacrifice fly to left to make it a 3-0 game. Harrison Travis (Soddy Daisy, Tenn.) followed with a single into left field and it was 4-0 Carson-Newman.
Wingate answered in the bottom half of the second. Lane Rhodes and Jake Courville went back-to-back singles to make it a two-run game and still nobody out. The Bulldogs scored their next three runs on wild pitches and passed balls and grabbed a 5-4 lead after two innings.
The Eagles wasted no time in responding back. With one-out in the third inning, Aiden Gibson (Cleveland, Tenn.) crushed his third home run of the year over the left center field wall to tie the game back at five runs apiece.
Wingate regained the lead with back-to-back RBI singles in the fourth inning to lead by two after four innings.
Once again, C-N answered in the next half inning. Nicholas Castellana (Lancaster, N.Y.) singled in a run to bring the Eagles within one.
Wingate would score the game's next three runs over the fifth and seventh innings on RBI extra base hits and the deficit was 10-6 heading into the final third of the ballgame.
C-N attempted to rally and was able to score twice in the eighth inning. Travis reached on an error to score a run and Floyd grounded out to score Carson-Newman's eighth run of the game.
The Eagles stranded a runner in both the eighth and ninth innings to fall short in game one of the day.
Williams and McLain had three hit days in game one. Gibbs and Castellana had two hit efforts.
Blake Cooper (Maryville, Tenn.) took the loss throwing three innings in relief allowing three earned runs.
WU's Dylan Story threw 3 1/3 innings of two run baseball to record the win in relief. Brett Adams had three hits and two RBI.
Game Two: Carson-Newman 2, Wingate 1
After a two hour rain delay between games in the doubleheader, it took some time for both offenses to get back in a groove. Just one runner reached base in the first two innings.
The Eagles created their first opportunity offensively in the third inning getting runners at first and second with two outs but were unable to convert.
C-N scored the game's first run off the bat of Travis. The graduate student crushed a 2-2 pitch over the wall in left center for his third home run of the weekend and his team-leading 13th of the year. After the home run, a walk and a single put two runners on with just one out. Gibson did a job by hitting a flyball to straight away center to score a run and extend the advantage to two runs.
Wingate was able to answer. Breon Ishmael hit into a fielder's choice with runners at first and third to plate a run. Hughes escaped the fourth inning by striking out a WU hitter to end the inning.
The Bulldogs threatened to score in the fifth inning. A one-out double from Jake Courville threatened Hughes, who got a strikeout and a groundout to end the frame and strand the runner in scoring position.
Hughes' work was complete, firing a career-best five innings allowing just the one run on three hits with a pair of strikeouts.
The southpaw gave way to the league's leader in saves to try and hold the one-run lead and Hunter Harritan (Huntersville, N.C.) did just that. After two quick outs, Harritan walked back-to-back batters on at bats that lasted six pitches each to put two runners aboard. After a mound visit from pitching coach Travis Tingle, the closer locked in and struck out Ricky Clark on three pitches to keep the lead intact.
C-N was not able to add insurance runs in the top of the seventh inning and so the defense went back to work. Similar to the sixth inning, Harritan struck out two Bulldog hitters to begin the frame. Wingate would not go away easily, a pinch hit single and a five-pitch walk put the game-winning run on base with two outs. On the next pitch, a sharply hit ground ball was hit to Trey Miller at second. The senior made a diving back hand snag and then tossed the ball to second base for a force out to seal the win. Had the stop not been made, WU would have tied the game.
The victory for Hughes is his eighth this season, tying for sixth-most wins in a single-season in program history. He becomes the first Eagle since Matt Bradley in 2022 to win eight games in a season.
The six-out save for Harritan gives him ten for the season and lowers his era to 1.78 for the season. His last nine appearances have resulted in either a win or a save for the senior reliever, including 12 of his last 13 outings.
Carson-Newman has won eight games this season by one-run and 16 games by two runs or less. Griffin's team remains undefeated when holding its opponent to less than three runs.
Six different Eagles recorded a base hit in the series finale to help produce two runs.
Carson Morton suffered the loss throwing five innings of two-run baseball.
Carson-Newman returns home for its final homestand of the season when it faces off against Trevecca Nazarene on Tuesday afternoon. The contest will air on the Eagle Sports Network with video available on FloSports with a paid subscription and an audio-only stream on cneagles.com/live.
