JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman stranded eight men on base in the first four innings before scoring nine times in the fifth and sixth innings to beat UVA Wise 9-5 Friday in South Atlantic Conference play at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex.
"You aren't always going to come out and hit," Carson-Newman coach Tom Griffin said. "You could feel the momentum. When you are stranding guys, the momentum was all on their side. You have to hang in there. You need someone to spark it. The bottom of our lineup was able to execute. James Denten had a home run to tie the game. You have to be patient."
Carson-Newman (10-11, 3-1) ended UVA Wise's (9-13, 1-3) five-game winning streak, the longest in the league entering the day while beating the Cavaliers for the 12th meeting in a row. The Eagles have won four straight, the longest winning streak of the season.
Noah Pridmore (Ootlewah, Tenn.) retired the first five batters of the game before D'Sean Prinkleton bounced a base hit into left field. Jeb Hurst sliced a double into the right-center field gap to open the scoring and put the Cavs on top 1-0.
Carson-Newman broke the seal in the fifth scoring four times to go ahead for the first time at 4-1. James Denten (Mt. Prospect, Ill.) lined a solo homer to straightaway center field to tie the score. With two outs, a hit batter and a base hit put runners at the corners. Aiden Gibson (Cleveland, Tenn.) flared a two-run double down the right-field line before scoring on a two-bagger from Will Gibbs (Harrisburg, Ill.).
In the top of the sixth, there were two outs and no one on base before a double from Hunter Meador extended the inning. Prinkleton blasted a two-run long ball on a 1-0 offering to left field to pull the visitors within a 4-3 tally.
The Eagles scored five more times in the sixth inning on just one hit. A ground out opened the scoring before a bases loaded walk, a sacrifice fly and a fielding error brought in the next three. Gibbs looped a single to right field to cap the inning and put the club ahead 9-3.
With two outs and two men on base in the top of the ninth, Cole Harness split the gap in left-center field to inch the Cavs within a 9-5 tally. After a walk, Prinkleton flew out to left-center field to end the game.
Carson-Newman drew nine walks and was hit by five pitches in the contest as Gibbs was the only player with a multi-hit game going 2-for-2 with two RBIs. Gibson was on base four times with two RBIs.
"We needed to be resilient," Gibbs said. "Baseball is a game of runs. There are going to be highs and lows. I feel like our temperament and our mindset always stayed the same. We are always on go putting pressure on the other team. I think we did a good job of that today."
Pridmore earned his second win of the year going 5 2/3 innings allowing three earned runs with five punch outs. Jake Wright (Ringgold, Ga.) earned the save, his first of the year, facing the final batter of the game.
Wise pitching threw 87 strikes out of 177 total pitches while the batters produced a 10-7 advantage in hits for the game. Four of the final five batters in the lineup tallied a pair of knocks. Prinkleton went 2-for-5 with two RBIs and two runs scored.
The two clubs wrap up the weekend series on Saturday at noon with a doubleheader from Mossy Creek. Broadcast coverage airs on FloSports with a paid subscription and on cneagles.com/live with an audio-only stream from the Eagle Sports Network.
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