Late surge lifts C-N to 8-6 win over Tusculum
GREENEVILLE, Tenn. – For the second time this month, Carson-Newman (15-11, 7-9 SAC) rallied from a ninth-inning deficit to take the series opener against Tusculum (9-17, 4-12 SAC) 8-6 on Friday night at Pioneer Park.
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0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 10 | 1 |
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VIDEO: Brock Culpepper Interview
GREENEVILLE, Tenn. – For the second time this month, Carson-Newman (15-11, 7-9 SAC) rallied from a ninth-inning deficit to take the series opener against Tusculum (9-17, 4-12 SAC) 8-6 on Friday night at Pioneer Park.
The Eagles entered this season with just seven wins in the last decade when trailing entering the ninth, and now have two this month.
The win for Carson-Newman is its sixth straight victory, matching the longest winning streak of the season.
"What a great ballgame," Carson-Newman head coach Tom Griffin said. "I don't care what Tusculum's record is, that is a good club. They had their guys prepared and their starter did a great job. There were a couple innings there, ran ourselves into an out and didn't move a guy over. When your in a close game, those things matter and that got us a little bit. But, you got to have somebody step up. Smitty (Braxton Smith) with a home run that was big, when they punched, we were able to answer. Big hits late from (Matthew) Bishop, (Sebastian) Rodriguez, who have been doing it all year. And then Culpepper was amazing."
After losing six of its first eight two-run games this season, the Eagles have now won four straight games decided by two-runs or less and are 6-6 this season.
The Pioneers scored the first four runs of the game. Jack Gagen drove in three of them. His second inning sac fly made it 1-0.
To start the third, Landon Dockery launched his third home run over the left field wall to make it 2-0. Later in the inning, Gagan drove a two-out single into left field to score a pair of runs and Tusculum led 4-0 after three innings.
Carson-Newman would have a quick answer. After consecutive walks, Braxton Smith (Cleveland, Tenn.) clobbered a 3-1 pitch to left for his second home run of the season to bring the Eagles within a run.
Both teams' pitching staffs would control the next several frames.
Brock Culpepper (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) was terrific in relief. He started his night by retiring the first five hitters to pitch scoreless fourth and fifth innings.
One of C-N's better chances to score came in the sixth. Logan Floyd (Adairsville, Ga.) led off with a double, but the Eagles were unable to get him in from second.
The Pioneers had just as good a situation, with runners on first and third with two outs. But, Culpepper kept C-N within a run after a groundout.
Two-out hitting put the Eagles up in the eighth inning. Bradley Soto Diaz (Davenport, Fla.) poked a two-strike single through the left side to bring Sebastian Rodriguez to the plate. The freshman delivered another clutch swing in his freshman season, driving a two-strike, two-out pitch over the right field wall to put the Eagles ahead 5-4 in the eighth. The home run was Rodriguez's first career home run.
Just when Carson-Newman got the lead, Tusculum would respond by taking advantage of C-N miscues. A fielding error is how the frame started. That runner moved all the way to third with two outs, and that's when Landon Dockery floated a single into center field to tie the game at five. After another two-out single, a passed ball brought home the go-ahead for the Pioneers.
Everything changed after a 1-2 pitch hit Aiden Gibson (Cleveland, Tenn.) to start the ninth. The Eagles advanced him into scoring position and that's when they turned to their clutch bat off the bench. Freshman Matthew Bishop (Leesville, S.C.) took a 3-2 pitch to left field for a game-tying single to score Gibson from second. The base hit was Bishop's sixth hit off the bench this season.
"He is a very cool, calm and collected up there," Griffin said. "He is a good routine and you don't see change much. It says a lot about him. He has a bright future."
C-N wasn't done there though. Three pitches later, Colton Evans singled to left field to plate the go-ahead run and advanced all the way to third after an error by Dockery in left.
That error set up a sacrifice fly from Cole Nathan (Knoxville, Tenn.) to cap a three-run ninth inning that put Carson-Newman ahead 8-6.
Kyle Adams (Gordonsville, Tenn.) slammed the door on another ninth-inning comeback. The redshirt-freshman recorded a pair of strikeouts to pitch a scoreless inning to save his third straight game.
Culpepper improved to 2-0 after five scoreless innings out of C-N's bullpen. It was the right-hander's second longest outing of his career. The only two runs that scored were unearned runs. 45 of his 67 pitches found the strike zone.
"I think that's something I've been doing better these last couple outings," Culpepper said. "Just executing when I get ahead, that's the biggest thing I worried about today. Just going out and executing whatever the catcher calls."
Evans and Floyd led C-N with two-hit days, while Rodriguez and Smith's home runs helped plate five of the eight runs.
TU's Walker Pedante blew a save opportunity in the ninth and took his third loss of the year. He allowed two earned runs on three hits.
First pitch for the start of tomorrow's doubleheader is at 1:00 p.m. The game can be heard on cneagles.com/live. Fans can also watch the radio crew at work with a feed of press row on YouTube.
