Eagles storm back in the ninth, split doubleheader with #19 Wingate
April 4, 2026

Eagles storm back in the ninth, split doubleheader with #19 Wingate

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – In a Saturday doubleheader that lasted more than six hours, Carson-Newman (21-15, 11-13 SAC) rallied from down three in the ninth inning to split a doubleheader with #19 Wingate (28-10, 18-6 SAC) on Saturday afternoon at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex.

VIDEO: Game One Highlights

VIDEO: Tom Griffin Interview

VIDEO: Maddox Greene Interview

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – In a Saturday doubleheader that lasted more than six hours, Carson-Newman (21-15, 11-13 SAC) rallied from down three in the ninth inning to split a doubleheader with #19 Wingate (28-10, 18-6 SAC) on Saturday afternoon at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex.

The Eagles scored four ninth-inning runs with two outs, to rally for a walk-off win 16-15 to start the day. The Bulldogs took the series by winning the finale 8-5.

This series was a slugfest the whole way and each game was decided in the last two innings. Wingate pounded out 41 hits to score 36 runs. C-N had 32 hits to score 31 runs. The Eagles blasted eight home runs for the weekend, their most in a series since blasting 10 home runs in a series with McKendree in February of 2016. It's the most home runs in a weekend conference series since the program hit 10 in a weekend series with Lenoir-Rhyne in March of the 2010 season. In the last 24 seasons of Carson-Newman baseball, the eight home runs this weekend is tied for the third-most in a conference series in its DII era.

C-N now has two wins over ranked teams this season and now has two walk-off wins in consecutive weekends. Both walk offs have come from freshman as well.

"I told our guys after the game I wanted great attitude and effort," Carson-Newman head coach Tom Griffin said. "They gave us that. We had to put guys in unique positions and string guys as long as we could and they gave us everything that had. To win the way we did in game one, that was huge, especially against one of the top teams in the country."

Game One: Carson-Newman 16, #19 Wingate 15

The Bulldogs jumped out to a quick three-run lead in the second. Two RBI singles and a RBI sac bunt gave WU a 3-0 lead.

Three more Wingate runs scored in the third. Tanner McCammon doubled to left center and then Ben Karpowicz went yard to push the Wingate advantage to 6-0.

The first of six RBI from Maddox Greene (Deep Gap, N.C.) got C-N on the board in the bottom of the third, but WU responded right back. A RBI single from Gavin Groppuso and a Bowen Powell sac fly pushed the Bulldogs lead out to 8-1.

Carson-Newman's rally would start in the bottom of the fourth. On the seventh pitch of the at bat, Bradley Soto Diaz (Davenport, Fla) launched a leadoff home run over the left center field wall to make it 8-2. That swing started a six-run fourth inning. Aiden Gibson (Cleveland, Tenn.) reached on a throwing error that played a C-N run. Two batters later, Braxton Smith (Cleveland, Tenn.) was walked with the bases loaded to score a third C-N run in the inning. Greene delivered another clutch two-strike swing with one out, singling into the left center field gap to plate three runs to bring C-N within one run in the fourth.

After a scoreless fifth inning, the Eagles jumped in front for the first time in the sixth. After a Smith single, Colton Evans launched his third home run of the weekend over the left field wall that put C-N ahead 9-8. C-N wasn't done in the sixth. Greene walked, stole second and was drove in by a Floyd single. During that same play, Floyd advanced to second, seeing the catcher's throw from home plate sail into the outfield. No Wingate outfielder was anywhere close to the ball, and Floyd easily rounded the bases to score without a throw to cap a four-run sixth inning.

Wingate would not let Carson-Newman's lead last for long. Next half inning, the Bulldogs jumped back in front. Two infield singles and a RBI sac bunt tied the game with one out. Later in the inning with two outs, Groppuso singled through the left side to put WU up 12-11 in the seventh.

The Eagles would go on to level the score in the eighth inning. With Evans at second, Floyd ripped a double down the left field line, plating the tying run with his third hit to send us to the final frame tied at 12.

WU would take a ninth inning lead. A bases loaded walk gave WU the lead. A Powell sac fly and a McCammon two-out single pushed Wingate out to a 15-12 lead with three outs to get.

Carson-Newman's first two batters of the ninth inning flied out on just seven pitches. Then, the rally began. The next five batters reached base safely.

Carson Cochran (Franklin, Tenn.) singled to right field on a 2-1 pitch. The next pitch hit Smith to bring the tying run to the plate. Evans and the Eagles were down to their final strike, before he was hit by a 3-2 pitch to load the bases with two outs. After a Wingate pitching change, two freshman clutched up. Greene fell behind in the count 0-2, worked it to 2-2 and kept the game alive. He laced a single to right center to score two runs to bring the Eagles within one.

Next up was fellow freshman Matthew Bishop (Leesville, S.C.) and in his first at bat of the game, he delivered. Bishop drove an 0-1 pitch down the right field line, to score Evans from third and Greene from first to walk off the Bulldogs. It's the freshman's first career walk off and the second by an Eagles freshman this season.

 

"It was amazing," Griffin said. "Especially with what happened yesterday. It was tough being down like that, but the offense has been swinging it well. Braxton Smith had a tough day yesterday and was great today. Maddox Greene was really solid and then Matthew Bishop has been doing that all year, coming off the bench with big hits. It shows resiliency obviously with sticking with it. Hitting is confidence but it becomes contagious as well when guys in front of you are having good at bats. We squeezed everything out of our guys that we could to get that win."

Greene had a career day to lead C-N's offense. His 6 RBI day is a career-best mark and the most by an Eagles hitter this season. Greene and Floyd each had three RBI, for a C-N offense that outhit Wingate 16-13.

Ryan Higgins (Spotsylvania, Va.) started on the mound for C-N, going four innings and striking out four WU hitters. Eight different bullpen arms were used by the Eagles. McCain Mangum (Ringgold, Ga.) and James Salicco (Waxhaw, N.C.) headlined those efforts with scoreless innings out of the bullpen in innings five and eight. Aaron Bobo (Knoxville, Tenn.) threw just one pitch to get the final out of the ninth and that was good enough to earn his first career win.

Wingate's Charlie Carpenter took the loss, allowing both of those ninth innings hits that won the game for the Eagles in the ninth inning.

That game was the fourth-most total runs scored in a game under Griffin.

Game Two: #19 Wingate 8, Carson-Newman 5

That win in the first game of the day, set up a rubber match in the finale. After scoreless frames both ways in the first, WU jumped in front early, as it did in each game of the series. After a single and a walk to open the second, Jalen Evans took the first pitch from Casson to straight away center to put the Bulldogs up 3-0.

Carson-Newman managed to get a run back in the second. With runners on first and third, Gibson poked a sac fly out to right to make it a 3-1 game.

Another Wingate home run would extend its lead in the third. Bowen Powell homered to right center on the second pitch of the inning to make it 4-1. A fifth run scored off Casson in the third, after Courville's bloop single to right.

As it did all weekend, Carson-Newman showed fight and would rally back. Two-out hitting plated a pair of runs in the third inning. Nathan doubled down the left field line to make it 5-2. The next batter Sebastian Rodriguez (Greensboro, N.C.) reached on an infield single to score a run and the deficit was cut in half.

After those WU runs in the second and third innings, Kolton Casson (Benton, Tenn.) would settle in. He struck out the side in both of those innings had two more in the fourth. At one point, the right-hander had recorded eight straight outs himself by striking out WU hitters. He finished his ninth start of the year by throwing scoreless fourth and fifth inning to keep C-N within two.

Casson took a no-decision, allowing four earned runs on seven hits and matched his season-high with nine strikeouts on 107 pitches.

Two more long balls allowed C-N to tie the game in the fifth with one out. On a 2-0 pitch, Floyd hammered a ball over the left field wall to make it a one-run game. Soto Diaz followed suit, crushing a 3-2 pitch also over the left field wall to tie the game at five after five innings.

It's the second time this season Floyd and Soto Diaz have hit back-to-back home runs.

One two-out swing changed the game for good, in Wingate's favor. Eli Norris (Ringgold, Ga.) was a pitch away from a 1-2-3 sixth inning, but got an unfavorable call on a breaking ball that prolonged the frame. It led to a hit by pitch and a single to put two on base with two outs. McCammon sealed the win for WU, hammering a first-pitch fastball over the right field wall to put Wingate ahead for good.

The Eagles did get the leadoff guy on base in the bottom of the seventh, but did not have late-inning magic twice in one day.

"Casson allowed us to stay in that game," Griffin said. "Our coaches did a good job with this, expressing how we had been in this spot and with the way the win was blowing no lead was going to be safe. That effort to tie another game up was good and then we put Eli (Norris) back in. I thought he did a great job because he was in the strike zone, based on what happened before. I told him that we wanted him in the strike zone and he was."

Soto Diaz's three-hit performance led C-N offensively. He was one of three Eagles with a multi-hit day in the finale.

Wingate's Carter Schuster got the win in the finale, retiring eight of the nine batter he faced out of the bullpen.

Carson-Newman concludes its eight-game homestand on Tuesday afternoon versus Trevecca Nazarene. First pitch is scheduled for 3:00 pm. A video stream of the weekend series is available with a subscription to FloSports at cneagles.com/flobase. 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. 

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