The first complete game shutout in five years helps C-N Baseball to sweep of Emory & Henry
Christian Henderson goes the distance in game one of a doubleheader with E&H, and Kolton Casson follows with six scoreless to give the Eagles a five-game win streak.
Game 1
Game 1
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 12 | 16 | 1 |
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0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
Game 2
Game 2
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
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0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 9 | 2 |
|
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0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 3 |
VIDEO: Christian Henderson Interview
EMORY, Va. – Christian Henderson goes the distance in game one of a doubleheader with E&H, and Kolton Casson follows with six scoreless to give the Eagles a five-game win streak.
The sweep of Emory & Henry is the first sweep of a conference opponent since last season, when the Eagles swept Anderson in late March. This moves C-N to 14-11 on the year and 6-9 in conference action. Carson-Newman is now tied with Coker in SAC play at 6th in the standings.
"I mean people will look at the standings and see where you're at, but literally we just worry about one pitch at a time and not get too far ahead of ourselves," said head coach Tom Griffin. "We'll focus on enjoying this ride home and celebrating the win because winning is really hard."
Over the course of the three-game series, the Eagles allowed just 5 runs to score, and outpaced the Wasps in runs 31-5. The Eagle bats piled up 40 hits on the weekend series while the pitching staff compiled 23 strikeouts in 23 innings played.
"We got two great starts. Henderson and (Kolton) Casson were absolutely amazing. What a great job by Carson Cochran and Jacob Rogers because the pitcher success has a lot to do with the catcher and I thought they called a great game. Did a great job keeping him in the zone," said Tom Griffin.
Game One: Carson-Newman 12, Emory & Henry 0
Carson-Newman jumped on the Wasps early. A Maddox Greene (Deep Gap, N.C.) single and an error put two runners on base with two outs. Cole Nathan (Knoxville, Tenn.) delivered the clutch swing. E&H centerfielder Jase Kotwicki made a diving effort at the line drive, but missed the catch and the ball rolled all the way to the wall. Nathan hustled his way around the bases and scored without a throw home to make it 3-0 Eagles in the third.
Nathan's inside-the-park home run is the program's first since Evan Kirkpatrick hit an inside-the-park grand slam against King on March 26, 2014.
After the electric start, the story of the day was on the mound with sophomore Christian Henderson. The right-hander allowed just one baserunner to toss three scoreless innings to start the game.
Carson-Newman would add to its lead in the fourth. Colton Evans drove in Braxton Smith (Cleveland, Tenn.) with an RBI single up the middle to extend the Eagles' lead to 4-0.
E&H compiled one hit in each of the fourth and fifth innings, but quality Henderson pitching and C-N's defense behind him blanked the Wasps once again.
After base hits from Pierce and Smith, Carson Cochran drove them in with a two-run single up the middle to increase C-N's lead to 6-0 after six innings.
Nathan would start a ninth that was filled with insurance runs. The junior crushed a 2-0 pitch over the center field wall for his second home run of the day to push the Eagles lead to 7-0 to start the final frame.
Cochran drove in his third run of the game by scoring Sean Strittmatter on a RBI single into right field. Two batters later, Trace Alexander poked a pinch-hit single up the middle for his first career RBI to increase the lead to 9-0.
Floyd and Nathan closed the six-run ninth, with RBI base hits with two outs to push the advantage all the way out to 12-0.
Henderson got better as the game went on. After a Kotwicki single to start the sixth, Henderson got one of two ground ball double plays in the game to pitch a scoreless sixth inning.
That momentum carried into the final three games. The right-hander retired the final 11 Wasp hitters, with all five of his seven strikeouts coming during this stretch to seal his second career complete game and his first career complete game shutout.
Henderson's nine-inning complete game shutout came with just 82 pitches thrown. It's the program's first since Brayden Coe's against Mars Hill on April 22, 2021.
"Everything was working," Henderson said. "It felt good throwing to (Carson) Cochran my catcher. It felt like I could throw the ball anywhere and he'd at least get it close. His framing definitely helped make today work."
The win for Henderson is his first of the season and fourth of his career.
Cochran and Nathan both had career days at the plate for C-N. Cochran recorded his second career multi-RBI, driving in a career-high three runs in the win. Nathan led the team with a career-best five RBI day, including his first career multi-home run day.
Only four E&H hitters reached base, three by a hit and one on an error.
Game Two: Carson-Newman 5, Emory & Henry 3
The Eagles continued on the trend of scoring early in this series despite good action from Wasps starter Cole Gillis. A scoreless first would bring the Eagles to the top of second, where Sebastian Rodriguez laid down a good bunt that drew a throwing error from Gillis to get on base. Braxton Smith added another Eagle on the basepaths with a single up the middle, and Ryan Bolton cleaned things up with a 2 RBI double into right-center.
Jacob Rogers hit a hard ground ball to shortstop that caused the second defensive error of the frame for E&H, and Ryan Bolton came all the way around to score and make it 3-0.
Kolton Casson continued the trend of good starts from Eagles pitchers, tossing six scoreless innings, allowing just four hits and striking out eight in the process. The sophomore has gone at least six innings in each of his last two starts and has racked up 17 strikeouts over those 13 innings. His outing today was facilitated by Rogers, who praised his starter for the quality appearance.
"He just kind of controls his own game. I really just throw suggestions down, and it's up to him to throw what he wants to. So, we kind of had it going in a rocking chair today, but the credit goes to Casson," said Rogers.
Casson's good start was certainly helped by C-N's defense; a highlight reel-worthy driving catch at first base was made by Colton Evans on a line drive from Jaxson Ehret. Kyle Fields had been on first base and a hit would have had the potential to bust E&H's scoreless streak. Instead, he tapped the bag after the catch for an unassisted double play.
"He (Colton Evans) brings that juice," said Griffin. "He's playing the game with joy. He's playing the game to compete and it literally seems like it it's on every pitch. That's so hard to find today."
Carson-Newman's other two runs were generated in the top of the fifth. A single from Rogers and a four-pitch walk to Colton Evans put two runners on base. Greene moved the runners around into scoring position with a bunt up the third base line, and Logan Floyd mashed a single through the 3-4 gap that was 100 MPH off the bat to score both runners.
With C-N up 5-0 and three outs to tie or take the lead, Emory & Henry nearly mounted the comeback. Eli Norris came in to relieve Casson and let two reach with a walk and a hit batter. A swinging strikeout would bring up Kotwicki, who drove a pitch up the middle to score one runner.
Jaret Hoppes put down a bunt single and made his way to second due to a throwing error from Jacob Rogers. That would score another run for E&H, and cut the lead down to just three for C-N.
Kyle Adams then stepped in for C-N and drew a ground-out that would still plate a runner, cutting the lead down to two with two outs. Finally, Adams put the game away after causing a flyout.
The five-game winning streak for Carson-Newman comes on the heels of a stretch of tight games and close losses for the Eagles. With some momentum back on the Eagles' side, the team has many positives to draw on.
"Started off rough on a losing stretch, but you got to battle and go through adversity. Really helps you build your team…Keep winning, keep building, stacking good days, and we'll see where we get at the end of the year," said Rogers. "Have good days of practice. Keep body language good. Keep everything going."
Carson-Newman is scheduled to play its next game on Tuesday, March 17th at the Silver Diamond Baseball complex at 3 PM against Alabama Huntsville. This non-conference matchup is the second game the Eagles have seen the Chargers this season, after defeating them 10-6 in Huntsville in mid-February. You can catch the game on the FloSports, the Eagles Sports Network, as well as a YouTube feed with a behind-the-scenes look in the booth.
