Eagles win back and forth series opener over #7 Lenoir-Rhyne

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VIDEO: Cole Nathan Interview

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. –  In a game that featured five lead changes, it was No. 21 Carson-Newman (29-11, 17-5 SAC) that grabbed an eighth inning lead and prevailed in the ninth inning to hold off No. 10/7 Lenoir-Rhyne (32-7, 16-6 SAC) 10-9 late Friday afternoon at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex.

“It was an intense game between two really good ball clubs,” Carson-Newman head coach Tom Griffin said. “That (LR) lineup, you do not get a rest. You can’t breathe with that lineup, it is that stinkin’ good. It was a good game and I liked the way we hung in there and I thought Andrew Bench was just absolutely tremendous. We had the big hits, and we haven’t had those recently. Cole Nathan has really been on fire. He has done a nice job with runners in scoring position and with two outs.”

The win is Carson-Newman’s third win over a top ten team this season and the 14th victory over top ten clubs in the Griffin era.

Logan Floyd (Adairsville, Ga.) and Cole Nathan (Knoxville, Tenn.) led C-N’s offense, combining for five hits and five RBI. Nathan led the way with his three hits and four RBI.

Lenoir-Rhyne started the scoring in the top of the first inning. Two walks and a single put runners on base, and Sal Carricato drove in a run with a sacrifice fly to make it 1-0.

As they would do often in this game, the Eagles answered in the bottom of the first. After C-N loaded the bases with nobody out, Cole Nathan (Knoxville, Tenn.) scored a run on a RBI groundout to level the game at 1.

Both starting pitchers would settle in over the next three innings and trade zeroes. C-N’s Andrew Bench retired six in a row at one point to keep the game tied at 1 through four innings. His counterpart Andrew Harlow responded and delivered three scoreless innings which included five strikeouts.

Makenzie Wainwright would break up the tie with two outs in the fifth inning. He launched his 18th home run of the year over the center field wall to make it 2-1 Bears.

Carson-Newman answered back and used the long ball as well. With two outs, Logan Floyd (Adairsville, Ga.) singled through the left side to tie the game at two. Nathan extended the frame with a double to give Aiden Gibson (Cleveland, Tenn.) a chance. Gibson made the most of it, sending a 2-2 pitch over the right field wall for his second home run of the year to put the Eagles in front by three runs.

 

The Bears applied pressure in the sixth inning and trimmed into C-N’s three-run lead. Two walks and a single loaded the bases with two outs. Eli Willen singled down the right field line to plate two runs.

C-N would counter in the bottom half of the inning, scoring all three runs of the sixth with two outs. Back-to-back wild pitches by Preston Dreber plated Ryan Jenkins (Winter Haven, Fla.) to make it a 6-4 game. Nathan extended the inning by lacing a two-out triple to right center field and the Eagles had their largest lead of the game at 8-4.

LR went back to work in the top of the seventh inning. C-N walked two guys and gave up a hit to load the bases with nobody out. The first two runs of the inning scored on a groundout and a balk to make it 8-6. The Eagles traded an out for a run on a Tyler Bradley base hit to single, the tying run was thrown out at the plate by Spencer Williams (Seymour, Tenn.) to keep C-N in front by one run.

Good baserunning pushed across a run in the bottom half of the seventh. After a leadoff single, Kylan Hornbuckle advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored after a throwing error to make it 9-7.

Just when it seemed like C-N was going to silence the scoring, the Bears would roar to tie the game with two outs. Carricato launched a two-run home run over the center field wall to knot things up at 9.

Nathan clutched up once again to change the lead back for good. He poked a single back up the middle, scoring Jenkins to put the Eagles up 10-9 heading to the ninth inning.

“I just stick to the basics,” Nathan said. “He was high on fastballs, so I had a feeling it was coming. I went to a two-strike approach to just try and get a barrel on it, and obviously got what I wanted.”

After a leadoff double, LR moved the runner to third base with a sac bunt to set up a sacrifice opportunity. Bransen Angel forced pinch hitter Joseph Mozingo to pop out to center field for the second out. The Eagles played the matchup game, turning to left-handed pitcher Jaxon Seritt (Knoxville, Tenn.) to face a left-handed hitter and it paid off. Seritt struck out Owen Blackledge out for the final out of the game to seal the opener.

Bench fired five innings of two run ball with three strikeouts in his fourth start of the year. Angel was the winning pitcher, recording the final out of the seventh inning, three in the eighth and the first two of the ninth. Seritt earned his first career save by getting the final out.

The pitching staff battled through a game in which it they issued a season-high 11 walks and the most in a game in five years.

Four LR hitters had two-hit days, with Carricato leading the way with his four RBI.

The series continues and wraps up with a doubleheader starting tomorrow at noon. The doubleheader will air with a video stream available on FloSports at cneagles.com/flobase with a subscription. There will also be a free audio stream available courtesy of the Eagle Sports Network on cneagles.com/live.

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