JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – In a South Atlantic Conference series that saw Carson-Newman win three games by one run, the Eagles won 4-3 in 11 innings of game two and 4-3 in the finale against Lincoln Memorial Sunday at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex.
"It was a tough series always with LMU," Carson-Newman coach Tom Griffin said. "It's a very good ball club. I thought their pitchers did a really good job. We were fortunate to get it. You had to have pitching on our side. It was really impressive. [Mason] Mooney, the defensive play was really big. What our bullpen did. Jake Wright, who is dealing with an injury, was exceptional with runners in scoring position. The pitching was the key."
The Eagles have won two of the last three series against the Railsplitters and seven of the last nine overall winning 20 of the last 28 league outings. Carson-Newman (19-15, 11-4) has won seven straight over Lincoln Memorial (19-13, 6-9) at Mossy Creek, the longest since a span of eight from 1998 to 2007. Eight of the last nine meetings have been decided by one run with the Orange and Blue winning six.
Despite allowing 13 of 25 leadoff batters reach, C-N pitchers held the visitors to 5-for-30 hitting with runners in scoring position. Conversely, the Eagles went 7-for-16 with runners in scoring position.
Game One: CARSON-NEWMAN 4, Lincoln Memorial 3 (11)
Trey Miller (Rocky Point, N.Y.) was hit by the first pitch an Eagle hitter saw in the game moving around to third on a sacrifice bunt and a ground out to first. Mitchell Balint (Avondale, Pa.) fisted a 0-2 pitch into center to give the Eagles a 1-0 edge.
Andrew Keene cranked the first pitch of the second inning off of the bottom of the scoreboard in right-center field for his team-leading sixth homer of the year to knot the margin at one.
Lincoln Memorial tallied three two-strike singles in the fourth inning with Kasten Harvey ripping a 1-2 pitch into left field with two outs to give the Railsplitters their first lead of the weekend, 2-1.
After the first two batters were retired in the sixth, a double and a single put runners at the corners for Zach Boze (Gallatin, Tenn.). The senior fell behind 0-2 before flipping a single into shallow left-center field to tie the tally at two.
Carson Boles doubled to the right field corner to lead off the 10th coming in to score on a grounder back up the middle by Cameron Powser to put the 'Splitters back in front 3-2.
Will Gibbs (Harrisburg, Ill.) shoveled a single back up the middle to open the bottom of the 10th moving to second base on a sacrifice bunt. Following a base hit, Gibbs touched home on a sacrifice fly to left field by James Denten (Mt. Prospect, Ill.) leveling the score at three.
David Brian Ellison retired the first two batters of the 11th before plunking Ben Willcoxon (Dandridge, Tenn.) on a 1-2 pitch. He swiped second base. Aiden Gibson (Cleveland, Tenn.) flicked a ball down the right-field line just out of the reach of a diving Keene to tally the team's third walk-off win of the year.
Game one was the first extra-inning game between the programs since 2015 and the Eagles' first win in the series since a 7-5, 11-inning triumph in the 2010 SAC Tournament.
Carson-Newman went 5-for-8 in the game with runners in scoring position compared to a 2-for-14 margin by LMU going 3-for-25 with runners on base. The Railsplitters had the leadoff man on base in eight of 11 frames.
Balint and Nelson Smith (Goodlettsville, Tenn.) each posted a pair of hits as seven different players tallied at least one of the team's nine hits.
Carson-Newman's bullpen fired six innings of relief with Hunter Harritan (Huntersville, N.C.) posting his fourth win of the year giving up one run in two innings with three strikeouts.
Ethan Bobo tossed a career-high seven innings giving up two runs on six hits and two walks with seven strikeouts. Boles and Keene each registered three hits in the game.
Game Two: CARSON-NEWMAN 4, Lincoln Memorial 3
In the second inning, the Eagles loaded the bases with no outs getting the game's first run on a double play ball. Collin Goda made a diving catch in center field to strand a runner at third and keep it a 1-0 game.
With runners at second and third base with one out, Dalton McLain (Greeneville, Tenn.) lined a single into center field to score a pair. The junior scored after back-to-back wild pitches swelling the bulge to 4-0.
Two walks opened the LMU half of the fourth getting a run on a sacrifice fly before Chris Hall smacked a single into center field to slice the margin in half, 4-2. A wild pitch brought in a run in the fifth trimming the score to one at 4-3.
Tyler Shaver (Dandridge, Tenn.) was unhittable over three shutout stanzas with a season-high six strikeouts to earn his second save of the weekend. He is the first Eagle to do so since Will Gardner tallied saves in games two and three against Tusculum on April 21, 2018, 1,807 days ago.
"I think senior day changed my mentality a little bit with baseball and wanting to enjoy it more," Shaver said. "After Friday's outing, I think I definitely had more fun out there than I have in the past. Today I was able to let it show. I was just trying pitch like it was my last time out there and soak it all in."
Denten produced two knocks and McLain drove in two runs and scored a run.
Eli Edds retired 11 of the final 12 batters of the game but fell to 3-3 on the year after six innings striking out eight allowing four earned runs on five hits and two walks.
The Eagles play their final midweek home game of the season on Tuesday against Shorter at three. Broadcast coverage airs on the Eagle Sports Network on FloSports with a paid subscription with an audio stream available on cneagles.com/live.
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