Kirkpatrick's inside-the-park grand slam punctuates 7-1 win over King
BRISTOL, Tenn. – A person could watch baseball every day of their life and never see an inside-the-park grand slam. Junior center fielder Evan Kirkpatrick (Jefferson City, Tenn.) accomplished that feat Wednesday afternoon as the Carson-Newman Eagles (17-16) defeated the King Tornado (12-21-1) 6-1 at the King Baseball Field.
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BRISTOL, Tenn. – A person could watch baseball every day of their life and never see an inside-the-park grand slam. Junior center fielder Evan Kirkpatrick (Jefferson City, Tenn.) accomplished that feat Wednesday afternoon as the Carson-Newman Eagles (17-16) defeated the King Tornado (12-21-1) 6-1 at the King Baseball Field.
Carson-Newman held a 2-1 advantage in the top of the sixth inning. The Eagles had been limited to just three hits, but had the bases loaded and two outs. Kirkpatrick lined a ball to left center field that saw the center fielder take a bad angle on the ball and watch the ball roll to the fence. Kirkpatrick motored around the bases and was met by a mob of teammates at the plate after his first career home run.
"I've been focusing this week on putting the ball in play hard," Kirkpatrick said of his mindset during the at-bat. "There were two strikes. He got me with a curveball that I was out in front of so I figured he'd throw it again. He did and I hit it pretty hard and I just keep running."
After sending the minimum to the plate in each of the first three innings, King plated a run in the bottom of the fourth inning off of senior right-hander Josh Russell (Bradenton, Fla.). An error by sophomore first basemen Joe Tipton (Dandridge, Tenn.) allowed right fielder Joe Ganger to reach base with one out. Designated hitter J.D. Wallace lined a ball into right field that junior Cody Fox (Seymour, Tenn.) bobbled to allow Ganger to score and make it a 1-0 game.
With one out in the top of the fifth inning, sophomore third basemen Brandon Roberts (Davie, Fla.) was hit by a pitch and stole second base. With runners at the corners, sophomore catcher Gooch Greer (Dickson, Tenn.) laid down a perfect squeeze bunt up the first base line to score Roberts and make it a 1-1 game.
The Eagles took the lead in the top of the sixth inning. Fox started the frame with a double to the fence in right field and moved to third base on a bunt by Tipton. Junior left fielder Bo Ausmus (Jefferson City, Tenn.) walked. A sacrifice fly by junior shortstop Bryan Everhart (Greeneville, Tenn.) put Carson-Newman on top 2-1.
Ausmus tripled down the right field line with two outs in the top of the seventh stanza to score Fox and extend the lead to 7-1. Ausmus saw his hitting streak move to 11 games after a 1-for-3 day with a walk and a run scored.
Head coach Tom Griffin used nine different pitchers in the contest. The nine hurlers combined to allow six hits while striking out ten batters. Collectively, Carson-Newman turned three double plays and picked off three runners.
"I think they did a good job on runner control," Griffin said of his pitchers. "They did a good job and executed because it's not just how quickly we move our feet. It's how we place the ball. The double plays were key."
Carson-Newman takes a week off of South Atlantic Conference play this weekend as the Eagles play host to No. 7 Georgia College for a three game series beginning Saturday afternoon at noon.
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