C-N holds off Northern Kentucky, 6-4
Feb. 15, 2009
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. - Sophomore Wes Dozier (Cornelious, N.C.) belted a solo home run and senior Corbin Ariail (Elgin, S.C.) picked up his second save in as many days as the Carson-Newman Eagles finished a three-game sweep of No. 22 Northern Kentucky University on Sunday afternoon at Silver Diamond Baseball Complex with a 6-4 win.
With the win, the Eagles improve to 7-3 on the season, while NKU falls to 0-3.
Dozier's blast answered a two-run shot by Norse first baseman Evan McDole, cutting the NKU lead to 2-1 after an inning.
"Wes's (Dozier) home run was big," Eagle head coach Tom Griffin said after the win. "It settled us down after they hit the ball hard in the top of the inning. I thought it gave us some life too. We came out a little flat."
C-N would quickly take back the lead in the bottom of the third.
Sophomore Cody Nix (Cartersville, Ga.) and junior Mills Rogers (Simpsonville, S.C.) took advantage of a shallow Norse outfield, turning a pair of gap line drive into back-to-back triples to tie the game.
Dozier followed with an RBI-double, his second RBI of the day, to give the Eagles a 3-2 lead. The sophomore ripped an 0-2 pitch from NKU starter Jarrett Casey (Indianapolis, Ind.) off the left field wall to plate Rogers.
C-N would add another run to its lead in the inning as freshman Antonio Nickel's (Naples, Fla.) RBI-ground out plated Dozier.
Nickel added an RBI-double in the fifth inning to score Derek Long (Jefferson City, Tenn.). Long finished the day 2-for-2 with a pair of walks.
The Eagle bullpen carried the load through the final five innings, scattering five hits and a run.
Starter Wes McIntyre (Chattanooga, Tenn.) picked up the win to improve to 2-0.
Junior D.J. Ferguson (Jupiter, Fla.) allowed just one run in two innings, before Ariail come in to shut the door.
The Elgin, South Carolina native allowed two hits in two and a third innings of work to pick up the save.
"Corbin (Ariail) was solid for us," Griffin added. "Our bullpen was effective for us and did a great job against a tough lineup all weekend."
C-N used 10 pitchers on the weekend, allowing only eight earned runs in 25 innings of work.
The Eagles return to action on Tuesday when they host Limestone at 2 p.m. in Jefferson City. C-N will travel Anderson on Wednesday, before hosting Catawba on Saturday in its South Atlantic Conference opener. Saturday's doubleheader begins at noon with the single game coming Sunday at 1 p.m.
C-N
