C-N’s six-run comeback headlines doubleheader sweep of Wise
WISE, Va. – Carson-Newman (30-17, 18-14 SAC) completed a doubleheader sweep of UVA Wise (11-35, 6-26 SAC) by scoring 16 straight runs in a pair of 9-7 victories on Friday at Stallard Field.
Game 1
Game 1
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 10 | 2 |
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2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 12 | 0 |
Game 2
Game 2
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
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6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 8 | 0 |
|
|
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 8 | 0 |
VIDEO: Sebastian Rodriguez Interview
WISE, Va. – Carson-Newman (30-17, 18-14 SAC) completed a doubleheader sweep of UVA Wise (11-35, 6-26 SAC) by scoring 16 straight runs in a pair of 9-7 victories on Friday at Stallard Field.
The doubleheader sweep extends Carson-Newman's winning streak to eight games, its longest winning streak of the year. The eight-game streak is the longest active win streak in the conference.
The sweep also increased Carson-Newman's win total to 30 for the year. It's the sixth time since 1990 that the program has achieved consecutive 30-win seasons and the first since 2007, 2008.
The two wins for the Eagles were a tale of two games. The Eagles needed a six-run comeback in the final three innings to win the series opener and needed to hold off a Wise late rally in the nightcap. They now have 11 comeback victories this season, four on the road. The six-run rally is the second-largest comeback this season and the largest on the road.
Game One: Carson-Newman 9, UVA Wise 7
"You need a lot of parts to get back in that game," Carson-Newman head coach Tom Griffin said. "We've comeback a lot this year and they have that as part of their thinking. In this park, nothing is too safe. With a six-run deficit, we talk about not letting it be seven or eight because every run matters. The important thing was Drew Fletcher. His demeanor on the mound, there was like this adrenaline kicking in him. He was fired up and we had not seen that in a while. But, we were able to string some hits together and got some freebies."
The Eagles jumped in front in the opening inning. After consecutive one-out hits from Aiden Gibson (Cleveland, Tenn.) and Bradley Soto Diaz (Davenport, Fla.), Tanner Kilgore (Kingsport, Tenn.) drove in a run with a groundout to make it 1-0.
UVA Wise answered in the bottom half of the inning. With a runner on base, Carter Babb hit an opposite field two-run homer to give the Cavaliers a one-run lead.
Both starting pitchers and defenses settled in over the next two innings. C-N avoided Wise runs scoring in the second by turning an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded.
The Cavaliers broke through again in the middle innings. Jaden Ruehling scored a run with a groundout in the 4th. In the 5th, Jacob Boyle launched his first home run of the season over the left field wall and Dalton Chapman singled in a run to extend the Wise lead to 6-1 after five. Babb's second home run of the game came in the sixth, adding to Wise's seven straight runs to lead by six after six.
Two-out offense engineered all of C-N's success the rest of the way. Logan Floyd (Adairsville, Ga.) singled in two runs with a two-out knock. Two batters later, Soto Diaz ripped a double into left-center to score Floyd and the deficit was cut in half.
A senior delivered more two-out offense in the eighth. Ryan Bolton (Knoxville, Tenn.) was down 0-2 in the count with two in scoring position and was able to poke a single through the right side to make it a one-run game after eight innings.
The comeback kids continued their comeback, but waited to do it again with two outs. Pinch-hitter Kylan Hornbuckle (Boaz, Ala.) drew a two-out walk and Rodriguez reached to put the go-ahead run on base. A 3-2 pitch hit next batter Cole Nathan (Knoxville, Tenn.) and that loaded the bases.
That hit by pitch went on to haunt Wise closer Ryan Whitson. He threw four straight balls to Braxton Smith (Cleveland, Tenn.) to walk in the tying run. Then, the clutch hit occurred. In his first at bat of the game, Jacob Rogers (Dandridge, Tenn.) laced a two-run double down the left field line, scoring two runs to give C-N the lead back in the 9th.
"A lot of credit goes to the guys before me," Rogers said. "They set my situation up, you had Braxton (Smith) with the walk to bring in the tying run. When you are in that situation you obviously want to come through. I didn't think too much, it was all about seeing ball and hitting ball and letting the baseball do its thing."
Drew Fletcher (Waxhaw, N.C.) was incredible for Carson-Newman on the mound late in the game, and worked around a two-out error to pitch a scoreless ninth and finish off a 9-7 win. He retired seven of the eight batters he faced over the final two plus innings to win his second career game. His four punchouts were a career-high.
Game Two: Carson-Newman 9, UVA Wise 7
"In game two it switched," Griffin said. "Our relief just did not do a great job. Between walks and balls left in the middle of the plate. We'd rather see strikes but we obviously didn't execute very well in the relief role. That allowed them to get back in the game and it goes back to freebies. I thought we did a good job swinging the bat in game two as well."
Scoring the final eight runs of game one of the day carried over into a great start to the nightcap.
In just four pitches, C-N grabbed a first inning lead. Floyd singled, stole second and then scored on a Gibson double and it was 1-0. Two batters later, Sebastian Rodriguez (Greensboro, N.C.) crushed a 2-2 pitch over the right field wall for his second career home run and it was 3-0, four batters into the game.
UVA Wise went to the bullpen quickly, and Logan Delph could not find the zone. He hit Nathan with a 2-1 pitch and then walked four straight Carson-Newman batters to plate a pair of runs. Delph missed on 19 of his first 23 pitches out of the bullpen in the first inning. A Floyd sac fly capped a six-run first inning which featured just three hits.
Carson-Newman scored two more runs in the top of the second inning. Two walks and a wild pitch moved runners into scoring position with nobody out. Rodriguez and Nathan scored those runners on a sac fly and groundout to balloon the lead to 8-0 after two innings.
From the end of game one into the start of game two, Carson-Newman scored 16 straight runs.
Starting pitcher Kolton Casson (Benton, Tenn.) was sharp in the first two innings, retiring the first six batters he faced. A run scored against him in each of the third and fourth innings, on a double and home run to make it 8-2 after four frames. Casson threw just 60 pitches to qualify for his ninth win of the year, striking out four in four innings of work.
The Eagles scored the ninth and final run in the fifth. After a Rodriguez double, Smith scored him with a single to left to increase the lead back to 9-2.
C-N needed just seven pitches to retire the first two batters of the fifth, but Wise posed a two-out threat of its own. A two-strike, two-out double started a long two-out rally. Two walks loaded the bases after that for Jake Smith. He singled in two runs to make it 9-4.
After a pitching change, Joshua Morgan came up and homered to right center on a 2-1 pitch to make it a two-run game.
Three more Cavaliers hitters reached, a single and two walks loaded the bases again with two outs. Brock Culpepper (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) finished the inning, striking out Andrew Hardy on the sixth pitch of the at bat to keep C-N in front after five frames. Wise was able to get eight straight batters on base with two outs.
Culpepper replicated what Fletcher did in game one and was dialed in to keep Carson-Newman ahead late in the game. A leadoff single had the tying run at the plate the entire sixth, but the senior right-hander recorded a pair of strikeouts in a scoreless sixth inning.
He finished the game with an efficient eight-pitch 1-2-3 seventh inning to seal the series win and doubleheader sweep. The seven-out effort earned him his first career save.
Rodriguez led the offensive attack in the nightcap, driving in three runs on two hits. Floyd and Gibson also had multi-hit days.
The series finale is tomorrow at 3:00 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.
