Nix's walk-off home run lift's Carson-Newman past Lincoln Memorial, 7-5, in Food Lion SAC Tournament
FOREST CITY, N.C. – Carson-Newman's Cody Nix (Cartersville, Ga.) hit a two-run, walk-off home run in the bottom of the 11th to give the fourth-seeded Eagles a 7-5 win over sixth-seeded Lincoln Memorial in the 2010 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Baseball Tournament on Friday afternoon at McNair Field in Forest City, N.C.
FOREST CITY, N.C. – Carson-Newman's Cody Nix (Cartersville, Ga.) hit a two-run, walk-off home run in the bottom of the 11th to give the fourth-seeded Eagles a 7-5 win over sixth-seeded Lincoln Memorial in the 2010 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Baseball Tournament on Friday afternoon at McNair Field in Forest City, N.C.
With the win, Carson-Newman (30-16) stays alive to face No. 2 Mars Hill at 3:45 p.m. on Saturday afternoon. Lincoln Memorial (25-23), who is now 1-1 in the tournament, will face the loser of Friday night winner's bracket meeting between No. 5 Tusculum College and No. 3 Catawba College.
The Eagles entered the ninth with a 4-1 lead, but Lincoln Memorial rallied for four runs to take a 5-4 lead, as Shane Kaufman (Miramar, Fla.) came through with a pinch-hit two-run single and later scored on a wild pitch along with Joseph Horsley (Corryton, Tenn.).
C-N bounced back to tie the game in the home half of the ninth and send it into extras. Wesley Dozier (Cornelius, N.C.) drew a leadoff walk and later scored on a Lucas Mohon (Glasgow, Ky.) pinch-hit single to tie the game at five.
Eagles catcher Mason Guymon (Oak Ridge, Tenn.) then drew a walk in the bottom of the 11th to set up Nix's walk-off home run.
C-N collected seven hits on the night, including two from Corey Lamson (Gray, Tenn.).
Lincoln Memorial tallied six hits. Ben Adleburg (Madisonville, Fla.) and Horsley produced two each to lead the Railsplitters.
Senior reliever Jeff Lockwood (Knoxville, Tenn.) picked up the win for the Eagles. Lockwood (2-1) gave up one hit and fanned four in 2 2/3 innings of work.
Lincoln Memorial's Chase Quarles (Rogersville, Tenn.) was tagged with the loss to fall to 3-1 on the season after surrendering three runs and three hits and walking four in 2 1/3 innings on the mound.
The Eagles grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first. After C-N loaded the bases, Lamson roped a two-out single to center field, scoring Evan Patterson (Knoxville, Tenn.).
C-N pushed across another run in the third. With the bases loaded, Lockwood raced home on a wild pitch to give the Eagles a 2-0 advantage.
C-N built a 3-0 lead in the fourth after it loaded the bases again, as Patterson scored on a Derek Long (Jefferson City, Tenn.) groundout.
Lincoln Memorial pulled to within 3-1 in the fifth. Deaun Williams (Beech Grove, Ind.) reached base on an error and later scored on a Horsely double to left center.
C-N answered in the home half of the inning. Aaron Vargas (Oak Ridge, Tenn.) drove in Lamson on a sacrifice fly to give the Eagles a 4-1 lead.
The teams went scoreless during the next three innings before the Railsplitters rallied in the ninth.
Postgame quotes
Carson-Newman head coach Tom Griffin:
That was a huge hit by Cody. We've been telling him to hit backside and think the other way, but he goes ahead and pulls a fastball, so I'm going to quit telling him to hit backside.
We've been struggling and have really been trying to find something to ignite us, whether it was pitching, good defense or timely hitting. It's been hard to put it all together. (Thursday night's) loss hurt pretty good, especially getting back into the game and losing it. Tonight was good because we had great pitching and very good defense. We just left a lot of guys on base. Give Lincoln Memorial credit for coming back the way they did. That was a good battle between two teams, and we just happened to get one more good swing than them.
