VIDEO: Highlights

VIDEO: Tom Griffin Interview

VIDEO: Logan Floyd Interview

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – For the first time this season, Carson-Newman (10-0, 3-0 SAC) faced early adversity, but found a way to rally from five runs down to win 7-6 and sweep Emory & Henry (1-8, 0-3) on Sunday afternoon at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex.

"First of all, so much credit to that young man that started for them," Carson-Newman head coach Tom Griffin said. "He was outstanding and had great location on all three of his pitches. He had a lot of confidence and it gave them a lot of confidence and energy. I thought we took it one-pitch at a time and stayed with things. We had some mental mistakes that we had not had this season, which in a way is good. We had those mistakes and yet we still found a way to comeback. As a coach, that is really promising to have the mental mistakes and freebies and still get in the game and get those big hits."

The Eagles advance their best start in the program's modern history to 10-0 with the sweep of the Wasps and have won their first conference season for the third straight season. It's C-N's first sweep of a series to begin conference play since 2016.

Nine of C-N's 10 wins at the start of this season have come at home, which matches the best home start to a regular season since 1993, when it won its first nine home games of that season.

Entering Sunday's game, C-N trailed for just half an inning through its first nine games of this season. It trailed early in this game and started in the first frame. A two-out walk led to a two-out home run from Jacob Bebber and E&H led 2-0 after the opening inning.

The Wasps offense went back to work in the top of the second inning. With one out in the inning, Matt Hill singled in his first run of the year and Jared Foley followed with a RBI double and it was 4-0 Wasps after two innings.

Carson-Newman's offense was as cold as the weather outside through the first five innings. E&H starting pitcher Cole Gillis was in a groove from the beginning. The freshman right-hander pitched five perfect innings to start the game, sending C-N's first 15 batters down in order.

E&H added a fifth run in the sixth inning. Back-to-back C-N fielding errors with two outs scored a run and the deficit was 5-0 after five and a half innings.

That's when Carson-Newman's rally would begin. Pinch-hitter Ryan Bolton (Knoxville, Tenn.) drew a four-pitch walk to start and Julian Hines and Trey Miller followed with infield singles to load the bases with nobody out. Ryan Jenkins (Winter Haven, FL) drove in C-N's first run with a sacrifice fly. Spencer Williams (Seymour, Tenn.) singled to load the bases back up and Logan Floyd (Adairsville, Ga) would deliver a big hit. The sophomore roped a pitch that hit the base of the right field wall to drive in two runs. A third run came around to score after the ball got away from the catcher, and C-N's deficit was just 1 after six innings.

After two runners reached with one out in the top of the seventh, C-N turned to Jaxon Seritt (Knoxville, Tenn.) to try and get out of the frame. He did just that getting a flyout and a groundout to keep the Eagles within one run.

Bolton helped started C-N's seventh inning surge as well. His leadoff double, paired with an infield single and a walk loaded the bases for the Eagles with two outs. Floyd would come through for the Eagles once more. The sophomore infielder blooped a hit into right field for a bases-clearing three RBI single to give C-N its first lead of the day.

"That was awesome," Floyd said. "I had seen a lot of sliders and thought maybe I would get another. I sat on it, hit it off the end of the bat but that's baseball. I've hit a lot of balls hard lately and got out. I joked with Kade (Kolpien), our first base coach that I kind of needed that and was due for one and I'm thankful for it."

E&H applied pressure in the 8th with back-to-back singles to start the inning. Carson-Newman brought its closer Eli Norris (Ringgold, Ga) into the game and he limited the damage. After a sac bunt moved runners into scoring position, Norris got back-to-back outs, one of which scored a run and it was 7-6 after eight innings.

Norris would stay on the mound for the ninth inning, to pitch for a six-out save. A one-out hit by pitch and single put runners on the corners. On the next pitch, E&H's Camden Bailey took off for second base and was caught stealing and thrown out by Frankie Delgado for the second out of the inning. Norris, the senior closer, bared down and got Jaret Hoppes to fly out to end the game and send C-N to its 10th straight win to begin 2025 and give him his third save of the year.

Jaxon Seritt (Knoxville, Tenn.) won his second game in his second appearance of the season, recording the final two outs of the crucial seventh inning. C-N's bullpen combined for 7.2 innings allowing seven hits and just one earned run while striking out seven hitters. Blake Cooper (Maryville, Tenn.) headlined the work from the relievers with three scoreless innings.

Floyd tied his career-high with five RBI on his two base hits in the comeback win. Miller joined with a multi-hit day at the plate as well.

Cole Gillis' line finished at 5.2 innings of five hit, four run baseball after tossing five perfect innings to begin his third career start. Jack Swarbrick took the loss allowing three runs in 2.1 innings.

Jacob Bebber played the star role for E&H finishing with three hits and two RBI.

Carson-Newman is back in action on Tuesday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. against Lee. There will be a free audio stream available courtesy of the Eagle Sports Network on cneagles.com/live.