C-N blanked in series opener against LMU
HARROGATE, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (6-1, 0-1 SAC) suffered its first loss of the season on Friday evening, falling 2-0 to Lincoln Memorial (4-5, 1-0 SAC) in the South Atlantic Conference opener.
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 2 |
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0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | X | 2 | 8 | 1 |
HARROGATE, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (6-1, 0-1 SAC) suffered its first loss of the season on Friday evening, falling 2-0 to Lincoln Memorial (4-5, 1-0 SAC) in the South Atlantic Conference opener.
"Outstanding pitching performances from (Peyton) Armour and Ryan (Higgins)," Carson-Newman head coach Tom Griffin said. "That's what you expect on a Friday night in conference play. Two good pitchers who made big pitches when they needed too. We had opportunities with runners on, but they did what they had to do. We had chances and you need to get big hits sometimes and they don't always happen. I thought our guys pitched and played defense well."
It's the second consecutive season that C-N has lost its first conference road games despite allowing just two runs.
Carson-Newman's first threat was in the top half of the second inning. Bradley Soto Diaz (Davenport, Fla.) led off with a single and later in the frame Johno Pierce reached on an error. Both were in scoring position with one out, but C-N came up empty in two opportunities to take a second inning lead.
LMU also threatened in the second, but Ryan Higgins (Spotsylvania, Va) got a ground ball to close the frame.
An Aiden Gibson (Cleveland, Tenn.) single put two runners on with two outs in the fourth, but C-N could not secure a two-out hit.
Higgins worked out of a fourth-inning jam. A fielding error put a runner at second with one out and a passed ball moved the runner to third. After falling behind 3-0 on Aaron Hobson, Higgins rallied to strikeout the second baseman for the second out of the frame. He closed the threat by striking out CJ Dugan on a 2-2 slider to keep things scoreless after four frames.
The Eagles would strand two more runners in the sixth. Logan Floyd (Adairsville, Ga.) extended his on-base streak to 41 games with a leadoff single. With one-out, Tanner Kilgore (Kingsport, Tenn.) would move Floyd over with a single. Both were left on though, as a strikeout and groundout ended C-N's threat.
LMU would finally break the scoreless tie in the seventh inning. Two singles put runners on the corners with one out. After a strikeout, a Higgins hit by pitch would load the bases. Gage Gray battled with Higgins and worked an eight-pitch at bat to draw a walk to give the Railsplitters the lead.
Carson-Newman's last quality opportunity for runs was in the eighth. Cole Nathan (Knoxville, Tenn.) singled to start the frame and Kilgore's second hit of the day put runners on first and second. But for the fourth time in the game, C-N stranded multiple runners on base.
Dugan poked a single through the left side to add to LMU's lead in the eighth.
Carson-Newman would bring the tying run to the plate in the ninth but went on to leave its 10th runner.
In his third start of the year, Higgins fired six scoreless innings before allowing the one run during the seventh. He finished his day pitching 6 2/3 innings allowing the one run on five hits and paired that with eight strikeouts, his second-most in a start in his career.
"He was really good," Griffin said. "He was able to locate that slider in three different spots, which is really good. He had that look in him that he was locked in. He was in the zone and I thought Jacob Rogers did a good job calling the game. He got out of some big innings for us."
Kilgore paced C-N's seven-hit day with two himself. His second straight multi-hit game.
LMU reliever Easton Barnett fired 3 1/3 scoreless innings out of the bullpen with three strikeouts to earn the win. He relieved starter Peyton Armour who struck out six in 5 2/3 innings on the mound.
The series concludes with a doubleheader tomorrow afternoon. First pitch in game one against the Railsplitters is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. The game can be heard on cneagles.com/live. Fans can also watch the radio crew at work with a feed of press row on YouTube.
