Middle innings surge lifts #14 C-N over #12/11 Catawba
Through three innings, the Eagles offense was held without a baserunner. After that slow start, everything then began to click very quickly. No. 14 Carson-Newman (32-12, 19-6 SAC) scored ten runs over the middle innings to create separation and defeat #12/11 Catawba (30-12, 20-5 SAC) 10-5 on Friday night at Newman Park.
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 10 | 1 |
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0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 14 | 1 |
SALISBURY, N.C. – Through three innings, the Eagles offense was held without a baserunner. After that slow start, everything then began to click very quickly.
No. 14 Carson-Newman (32-12, 19-6 SAC) scored ten runs over the middle innings to create separation and defeat #12/11 Catawba (30-12, 20-5 SAC) 10-5 on Friday night at Newman Park.
"That (Payne) Stolsworth kid is really good," Carson-Newman head coach Tom Griffin said. "He is one of the best pitchers in this league. He was dominating us and offensively we just needed to keep the game in reach. Our hitters did a great job just talking about what they saw, and staying with the process. We didn't want to expand the zone and if we had done that, he would've cruised along. I think we shrunk the zone on him and then hitting became contagious. It was many different guys that did something important for us at the plate."
The victory is Carson-Newman's fifth win over a ranked team this season, one shy of C-N's most wins by a Griffin-led team against ranked competition in a single season. It's C-N's first road win over a ranked team since winning the series finale over #9 Newberry in March of 2023.
The win snaps Catawba's 11-game winning streak in conference play, the third-longest in DII.
Carson-Newman's offense was nonexistent through the first three innings. The Eagles struck out three times and were unable to get a baserunner. During that offensive lull, Catawba would score four times.
Cole Hales led off the bottom of the second with his sixth home run to begin the scoring.
The next three runs would all score in the third. James Dunlap doubled in two runs and Sam Hunter followed in with a sacrifice fly to make it 4-0 Indians after three innings.
Spencer Williams' (Seymour, Tenn.) first of his three-hit day came with one out in the 4th to give the Eagles their first baserunner. Cole Nathan (Knoxville, Tenn.) eventually scored Williams with his team-leading 25th hit with two outs to make it a 4-1 game.
Andrew Bench pitched a scoreless fourth inning and then the Eagles offense went back to work. A hit by pitch, walk and a fielder's choice in which no outs were recorded loaded the bases for C-N. As he did on Wednesday against King, Jenkins repeated his effort with a bases-clearing double to right center to level the game at four. Williams, the next batter, gave C-N the lead with a single to right field to cap a four-run fifth inning.
C-N's offense stayed hot and ran Stolsworth out of the game in the sixth inning. A hit by pitch, walk and single loaded the bases with one out for Frankie Delgado (Deltona, Fla.). First pitch swinging, Delgado banged a single through the right side to plate two runs to make it 7-4. That set the stage for Trey Miller (Rocky Point, N.Y) who would break the game open. The graduate student launched a high fly ball that hit off the top of the wall in left field and left the yard for his second home run of the year to extend the Eagles advantage to 10-4 in the sixth inning.
Xavier Hart (Sellersburg, In.) relieved Bench in the 5th and was outstanding on the mound. He worked around fifth and sixth innings that saw the Indians put a runner in scoring position, but they came up empty.
The most challenging jam he pitched out of was in the seventh inning. Two singles put runners on first and third with one out. Hart stayed with it and struck out the Catawba's three hitter Sam Hunter and then got Hales to hit into a fielder's choice to keep the lead well intact.
"Xavier Hart was the key to this game," Griffin said. "He came in and gave us some zeros which allowed us to put some crooked numbers up. That was just an outstanding job by him. I'm very happy for him."
Catawba would score a run on Hart in the eighth inning, but it came off a double play that wiped the bases clear. Eli Norris (Ringgold, Ga.) entered the game and recorded the final out of the eighth and it was a 10-5 advantage heading to the ninth.
After two quick outs, Norris walked two batters and gave up a single to allow Catawba to load the bases. Once again though, the Indians left runners on as Norris struck out Shelly looking on a breaking ball to seal the victory.
Hart earned his fourth win of the season, going 3.2 innings while allowing just one run to score on six hits and had four strikeouts.
Williams led the offense in hits with three, while Floyd extended his hitting streak to 14 games after a 2 for 5 effort at the plate. Delgado, Jenkins and Miller each drove in at least two runs and combined to drive in eight of the 10 for C-N in the game.
Catawba left 11 runners on base and stranded at least one runner in their final seven half innings at the plate, which included stranding multiple in the final three frames.
The series continues and wraps up with a doubleheader starting at 1:00 p.m. from Newman Park. The doubleheader will air with a free audio stream available courtesy of the Eagle Sports Network on cneagles.com/live.
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