ANDERSON, S.C. – Needing a win to keep its postseason hopes alive, the Anderson baseball team opened its final three-game weekend series of the season by rallying from a three-run deficit to knock off Carson-Newman, 7-6, in South Atlantic Conference action, Friday night at Memorial Stadium.
Anderson (22-21, 8-14 SAC) snapped a brief two-game skid, while handing Carson-Newman (25-22, 10-11 SAC) its third straight setback.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Nick Vella was 2-for-3 at the plate, with a run-scoring double and an RBI-single, with designated hitter Shane Thomas collecting two singles and a walk in four trips to the plate. Justin Fox was 2-for-4, with a single and hammered his first home run of the season – a two-run shot in the fifth inning. He scored three runs and finished the night with the two RBI. Carlos Hernandez added a single and reached base on a third-inning walk, with Jaxon Young going 2-for-4, with a single and his fifth triple of the season.
Jackson Herring (3-2) captured the win after tossing 1.1 innings in relief. The right-hander did not allow a run, while giving up two hits, striking out two and walking one of the six batters he faced. Landon Henley earned his third save of the season by tossing a perfect ninth inning, while fanning two of the three Carson-Newman batters in the inning.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Freshman hurler Walker Noland drew the start on the mound for the Trojans and worked out of a pair of jams in the first two innings, but not before surrendering a run in the top of the second frame. AU answered with a run in the bottom of the inning, when Young sparked the Trojan offense by lacing a one-out triple to the gap in right-center and scored the equalizer when Brayden Owens followed by bouncing out to the right side.
After Carson-Newman was retired in order for the first of two times in the night in the top of the third, the Trojans took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the inning when Vella's team-leading 16th double of the season plated Fox, who scored all the way from first.
The Eagles knotted the score in the fourth inning on Andrew Carpenter's leadoff home run and Carson-Newman built a 5-2 advantage behind a three-run fifth inning. Van Ness opened the home half of the fifth inning with a double down the left-field line and Fox followed by clubbing his first home run of the campaign over the left-field fence to pull AU within 5-4.
The Black and God then capitalized on a pair of errors by the Eagles and posted three unearned runs in the sixth inning to take the lead for good. AU's Trey Princiotto allowed a two-out walk in the seventh, but came away unscathed and the Horseheads, N.Y., native held the Eagles to just a run in the eighth.
With the Trojans nursing the one-run lead, Henley came out of the bullpen and sandwiched strikeouts around a groundout to earn the save.
STAT OF THE NIGHT
Carson-Newman stranded 10 base runners on the night.
NOTABLES
• The Trojans improved to 9-3 on the season in one-run games.
• Jaxon Young extended his hitting streak to five games.
• Carlos Hernandez stretched his hitting streak to four games.
• Nick Vella has reached base safely in 11 straight games.
• The 22 victories are the most since the 2018 squad posted 25 wins.
• AU is bidding for its first winning season since the 2003 campaign.
• The Trojans are seeking their third straight conference series win after sweeping Coker two weeks ago and taking two-of-three from Queens a week ago.
• In order to earn a berth in next week's SAC Championship, the Trojans will have to sweep Saturday's twin bill with Carson-Newman and they need top-ranked Wingate to sweep its Saturday doubleheader with Mars Hill.
• The Trojans head into their final conference doubleheader trailing eighth-place Mars Hill by 1 ½ games.
• The Eagles are currently in seventh place in the league standings, 3 ½ games behind sixth-place Catawba, one game ahead of eighth-place Mars Hill and 2 ½ games in front of the Trojans.
• The Trojans and Eagles have met on 41 occasions, with Carson-Newman leading the all-time series, 30-11. The first-ever meeting between the two programs occurred during the 2001 campaign.
• An AU student was the lucky World Insurance Associates Jackpot Inning ticket holder during the fifth inning of Friday night's victory - At every home game, fans can pick up a free ticket at the concession stand. If the second batter in the bottom of the fifth inning hits the ball over the fence for a home run, one lucky ticket holder receives $500 from World Insurance Associates. The student was the lucky ticket holder when Fox recorded his home run. She is the 12th winner in the 23 years that World Insurance Associates has sponsored the contest.
UP NEXT
The Trojans and Eagles will close out the three-game set with a Saturday afternoon doubleheader. Senior Day recognitions are scheduled prior to first-pitch (1 p.m.).
