Eagles knock off LMU, 7-2
April 16, 2007
JEFFERSON CITY, TN-- Matt Teague tossed nine strikeouts and Brandon Burchfield collected three hits as Carson-Newman defeated Lincoln Memorial, 7-2 in the first game of a three-game South Atlantic Conference series. Heavy rains Saturday and Sunday rained out the final two games of the SAC regular season for both teams.
C-N (29-17, 15-6 SAC) held LMU scoreless before gaining the first run in the third inning. Burchfield singled and advanced to second on a Langdon Potts walk. Derek Long reached on a fielder's choice to advance Burchfield to third. Burchfield scored on a wild pitch by Reed Neff for a 1-0 Eagle lead.
LMU took the lead in the fifth inning when Bryon Izzo hit a two-run homer to left center for a 2-1 Railsplitter advantage. Those two runs would be the only earned runs for Teague the rest of the game. In the bottom of the fifth inning, the Eagles exploded with consecutive singles by Burchfield, Potts, Nick Achberger, and Long. Achberger's base hit scored Burchfield and Potts while Long drove in Achberger to give the Eagles a 4-2 lead. After Michael Brown hit a sacrfice bunt to advance Long to second, Jason Gray smashed a double to left center to score Long for a 5-2 C-N advantage. Mills Rogers capped the five-run inning for the Eagles with an RBI single to score Gray and give the Eagles a 6-2 lead.
C-N added another run in the eighth. Adam Kefauver singled and stole second while Jonathan McMahon's RBI single drove in Kefauver for a 7-2 lead.
Teague pitched seven complete innings, giving up just five hits and no walks for the victory. Steve Cishek pitched the final two innings, striking out four and giving up just one hit and no earned runs. Neff took the loss for LMU after giving up seven hits and five earned runs in 4 1/3 innings.
With the win, C-N finishes in sole possession of second place in the SAC regular season standings.
Carson-Newman will be the second seed in this weekend's Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Tournament in Greenville, South Carolina. The Eagles will face fifth-seeded Newberry at 3:45 p.m. at Greenville Municipal Stadium.
