Kilgore and young arms guide C-N to blowout win over Tusculum
GREENEVILLE, Tenn. – A career day from Tanner Kilgore (Kingsport, Tenn.) paired with quality debuts from a trio of freshman guided Carson-Newman (6-0) to a 15-3 non-conference win over Tusculum (4-3) on Tuesday afternoon at Pioneer Park.
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
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5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 15 | 12 | 3 |
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0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 2 |
VIDEO: Tanner Kilgore Interview
GREENEVILLE, Tenn. – A career day from Tanner Kilgore (Kingsport, Tenn.) paired with quality debuts from a trio of freshman guided Carson-Newman (6-0) to a 15-3 non-conference win over Tusculum (4-3) on Tuesday afternoon at Pioneer Park.
"We were very fortunate to get those runs that we did early," Carson-Newman head coach Tom Griffin said. "With the injuries and the guys that are sick right now and with (Drew) Fletcher making his first career start. Same with Tusculum, they played four games in the past two days and used up some arms. I thought the young guys did a great job. Fletcher, Wilson and then Adams. Really pleased with them being in the strike zone. All three of our catchers did a great job keeping them in the zone and calling the game."
Drew Fletcher (Waxhaw, N.C.) was the first of three freshman to make their debut. That right-hander tossed a scoreless first inning in his first career start. He recorded eight outs, allowing just two earned runs on five hits.
Alec Wilson (Baxter, Tenn.) took the ball from Fletcher and retired the first four hitters he faced. Thanks to quality defense, he helped C-N escape jams in the third and fifth innings to and pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings.
Kyle Adams (Gordonsville, Tenn.) would pitch a scoreless sixth inning, escaping a first and second one out jam in the frame.
Overall, this freshman trio pitched six innings of two run ball and walked just one batter.
Down two starters in the lineup, Tanner Kilgore led a balanced offensive performance. The junior produced a career-high four hits to go along with a four RBI day. It's the infielder's 12th career multi-RBI and third game with four or more.
"Tanner is good hitter and has legitimate power," Griffin said. "He has good hand-eye coordination. He works hard and it's nice to see the results of putting the time in. It was a really good day for him."
From the start, Carson-Newman's offense had its foot on the pedal. In just over a handful of pitches, Maddox Greene (Deep Gap, N.C) drew a walk and got into scoring position after a wild pitch. Braxton Smith (Cleveland, Tenn.) would drive him in with a RBI single into left field. Later in the inning, a wild pitch would bring in Smith to increase the lead to 2-0.
With two in scoring position, Kilgore ripped a single up the middle and the lead extended to 4-0. Next batter Ian Hubbard (Oak Ridge, Tenn.) doubled into left center field to score Kilgore and cap a five-run first inning. All five runs on four hits came with nobody out.
After batting around in the opening inning, C-N went back to work in the second. With the corners occupied, Bradley Soto Diaz (Davenport, Fla.) hit a line drive single to center field to plate Greene and make it 6-0. With two outs and the bases loaded, a Tusculum error allowed two more C-N runs to score and it was 8-0 in the second.
The Pioneers chipped away at the lead over the next two frames. A Jack Gagen RBI single and a Steve Scarfone two-run double made it an 8-3 game after three frames.
Carson-Newman would dominate the rest of the game and scored seven unanswered runs. Kilgore scored on a wild pitch in the fourth, and Colton Evans poked a one-out single up the middle to score Hubbard to make the margin 10-3 after four.
The first run of the fifth inning scored on a wild pitch, with Kilgore's sac fly to right making the lead 12-3 after five frames.
In just his fifth career game in the Orange and Blue, Evans would go yard in the sixth. The senior infielder sent a towering ball well beyond 400 feet to straight away center for his first career home run with the Eagles.
Evans is in his third season with C-N, but has dealt with injuries. He missed all of 2023-24 after ankle surgery and had four more surgeries over the last year because of VTOS (venous thoracic outlet syndrome) and to remove bloods clots.
"I want to thank God," Evans said. "Everyday, it was moments like this that I was holding on to. I want to thank the people that I surrounded myself with everyday, depending on the injury. Just tons of different people back home, here at Carson-Newman. It kind of felt like it was all for that. It feels amazing."
The first three C-N hitters reached in the seventh to help plate more runs. Kilgore plated the first with a double to center field and an Aiden Gibson (Cleveland, Tenn.) sac fly closed the scoring in a second straight run-rule win over Tusculum.
Seven of C-N's nine starters scored a run while six of them helped make up the 12-hit day.
The Eagles offense continues to feast off its quality plate discipline. C-N drew seven walks and was hit by four pitches in the win. Cole Nathan (Knoxville, Tenn.) led the way by drawing four walks in five plate appearances.
Tusculum starting pitcher Drew Sliwinski took the loss, not recording an out in the first four batters he faced and gave up two runs on four hits with two walks.
Carson-Newman is back in action on Friday as it begins South Atlantic Conference play at Lincoln Memorial. First pitch against the Railsplitters is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. The weekend series can be heard on cneagles.com/live. Fans can also watch the radio crew at work with a feed of press row on YouTube.
