Two C-N comeback wins lands Griffin 700 career wins
March 27, 2024

Two C-N comeback wins lands Griffin 700 career wins

Carson-Newman (15-14) rallied twice to sweep a doubleheader with Montevallo (20-12), landing head coach Tom Griffin his 700th career victory Wednesday afternoon at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex.

VIDEO: Tom Griffin Interview

VIDEO: Game One Highlights

VIDEO: Game Two Highlights

VIDEO: Logan Floyd Interview

VIDEO: Harrison Travis Interview

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (15-14) rallied twice to sweep a doubleheader with Montevallo (20-12) to earn head coach Tom Griffin his 700th career victory Wednesday afternoon at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex.

"That was a quality opponent and outstandingly coached team," Griffin said. "Our guys did a great job today. We had a couple guys out with classes and their capstones, so some guys got some opportunities. It was nice to see Cole Nathan do a really good job. The arms that got to throw today, that was really encouraging. It took a lot of things to get the job done, lots of key hits from James Denten, Harrison Travis, Logan Floyd and Frankie Delgado's game-winning hit. I thought the resiliency of our guys was good and the bench was outstanding. We played relaxed and loose and when they got their opportunity they performed."

Coach Griffin earns career win number 700 in his 27th season coaching collegiate baseball. The veteran coach has won 516 of those games at Carson-Newman.

"It's all a blessing," Griffin said. "The opportunities we get to do this stuff, win or lose. We are blessed to be here at Carson-Newman with the administration, staff and faculty that we have. This is a phenomenal university. It's certainly changed my life for sure and it's helped my heart grow and get better. Then to be around these guys and all the sacrifices, I'm truly blessed."

The twin bill sweep of the Falcons earns C-N its first two wins in midweek affairs, previously being 0-5 this season.

Game One: Carson-Newman 6, Montevallo 4

The Falcons got a break in the first inning. A strikeout wild pitch and a hit by pitch put two runners on with two outs and Zach Hiatt reached on a fielding error at first base with the ball getting into the outfield to score two runs for Montevallo in the first.

Carson-Newman got two good chances in the first two innings to get on the board. A lead off single from Spencer Williams (Seymour, Tenn.) and a two-out knock from Harrison Travis (Soddy Daisy, Tenn.) gave C-N runners on the corners with two outs but a line-drive out ended the inning.

A similar situation occurred in the bottom of the second inning. Singles from freshman Tanner Kilgore (Kingsport, Tenn.) and Cole Nathan (Knoxville, Tenn.) occupied the corners with two outs. Williams hit a line drive to left field that hung up to be caught to end the threat.

Ryan Higgins (Spotsylvania, Va.) was excellent in his first career start, retiring nine batters in a row during innings 2-5 to keep the deficit at two. A walk ended that stretch, and Ethan Huddleston homered to straight away center field and extended the lead to 4-0.

The Falcons loaded the bases with nobody out and only managed to score one run on catcher's interference to make it 5-0 in the sixth inning. Braden Williams (Cookeville, Tenn.) recorded two strikeouts in relief to limit the damage done.

Carson-Newman's offense stayed determined at the plate and that paid off in the sixth inning. Base hits by James Denten and Travis put runners on second and third with no one out. Logan Floyd (Adairsville, Ga.) crushed his first career homerun of the left field wall on the first pitch of his at bat to make it a two-run game after six innings.

Williams worked around a situation where two runners reached base with two outs and got help from his defense. Spencer Williams in right field made a leaping over the shoulder catch ranging back to the track to keep it a 5-3 game heading to the seventh inning.

Williams carried the momentum over to the plate and started a seventh inning rally. On a 1-2 pitch, the right fielder skied a ball over the right field wall to make it a one-run game.

 Denten followed up by crushing his fifth home run of the season to straight away center, tying the game at five.

Hitting became contagious for C-N. Travis followed with a double down the right field line. Back-to-back walks loaded the bases with nobody out in the seventh. That brought Frankie Delgado to the plate. The junior catcher worked an eight-pitch at bat and then delivered the game-winner with a single back up the middle.

The win is the first time this season Carson-Newman has rallied when trailing after six innings. Delgado's game-winning knock gave the Eagles their second straight walk-off after doing so in the series finale against Catawba on Sunday.

Williams' two scoreless relief innings late allowed him to earn his first career win on the mound. He struck out two batters. Higgins didn't get the victory, but did strikeout a career-high seven guys in his first career start, going five innings allowing just three hits and two earned runs.

Game Two: Carson-Newman 6, Montevallo 4

Back-to-back extra base hits got Montevallo a 1-0 lead as Jake O'Connell tripled to right center in the second inning.

The Eagles had an answer in the bottom of the second. With two outs, Nathan dropped a softly hit fly ball to right field to score two runs.

After a scoreless third inning both ways, Montevallo scored twice in the fourth. Pinch hitter Landon Leake singled to left field to plate the tying run. After a walk, Christian Kallaher singled into right field and a run scored to give the Falcons the lead in the fourth inning.

The Falcons threatened for more runs in the top of the fifth inning. A single, hit by pitch and walk loaded the bases with one out. Jaxon Seritt (Knoxville, Tenn.) entered the game, and the sophomore recorded a strikeout and got a groundout to keep the game at a one-run deficit.

That pitching effort from Seritt proved to be extremely important. In the bottom of the inning, Nathan and Williams reached base to start the frame and Denten drew a two-out walk to load the bases. Trailing by a run, Travis came through by dropping a flyball into left center field that plated three runs to put C-N up 5-3 after two innings.

Carson-Newman got an insurance run in the sixth as Dalton McLain (Greeneville, Tenn.) singled through the left side to score Nathan to make it a 6-3 game heading to the ninth inning.

With a save situation in place, Hunter Harritan (Huntersville, N.C.) entered for the seventh inning. The Falcons loaded the bases against the right-hander with one out, but the senior responded by getting a groundball out and strikeout to close the door on the sweep and secure his sixth save of the season, the most in the South Atlantic Conference. Seritt earned his first win of his career.

 "Wins like this just build confidence," Griffin said. "It certainly shows what you are capable of doing as a group and you have to have games like this. You have to have games where you comeback from being down, then one where you hold leads. All of these are experiences we have to draw from, but you have to have them to draw from them. It's a great experience for all of us.

Travis paced C-N's offense with four hits and three RBI in both games. Denten, Floyd and Williams all had two hits and each homered during C-N's game one comeback. Nathan had a three-hit afternoon with two RBI as well.

Montevallo got three hits from Hyatt and two from Crowson and Huddleston each in the two games combined.

Carson-Newman gets one day off before it hits the road for a three-game conference series with Lenoir-Rhyne starting on Friday at 5:00 pm. The contests will air with an audio-only stream on cneagles.com/live.

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