Saturday, April 26, 2008   

 

CARSON-NEWMAN, LENOIR-RHYNE POST WINS IN SOUTH REGION BASEBALL CLASSIC

 

                GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Carson-Newman College and Lenoir-Rhyne College each recorded a victory at the 2008 South Region Baseball Classic, hosted by Tusculum College Saturday afternoon at Pioneer Park.  Carson-Newman (41-16) got a 2-for-4 effort by Jason Gray and Brett Hontz recorded his 11th win of the season as the Eagles defeated Lenoir-Rhyne 4-2.  L-R (23-32) rebounded in the second game as the Bears rallied from a three-run deficit to edge No. 19 Tusculum 6-4 in 10 innings.

 

Carson-Newman 4, Lenoir-Rhyne 2

                Carson-Newman jumped out to a 3-0 lead and held on late as the Eagles defeated Lenoir-Rhyne 4-2.  The Bears out-hit the Eagles by an 11-7 margin, but Hontz and reliever Corbin Ariail kept L-R at bay, stranding 11 runners in the contest.

 

                C-N plated two runs, utilizing one hit in the second inning.  Corey Lamson drew a one-out walk and stole second.  After a walk to Tyler Wynn, Mills Rogers singled home Lamson, while moving Wynn to third.  Cory McGinnis’ sacrifice bunt brought home Wynne with the second run of the inning.  The Eagles added another tally in the fifth frame when Langdon Potts drew a one-out walk.  On a pickoff throw at first base, the baseball sailed wide, rolling all the way to the right field corner.  The errant throw allowed the speedy Potts to score all the way from first for a 3-0 C-N lead.

 

                The Bears cut into the deficit with a pair of runs in the sixth, as Evan Taylor led off with a single and moved to third on Zachary Glass’ 16th double of the season.  Ariail came aboard to relieve Hontz as he struck out Mark Drucker, but gave up a RBI ground out, scoring Taylor from third bases.  Stephen Andrews followed with a RBI single to right field as L-R trailed 3-2.

 

                C-N added an important insurance run in the ninth inning when Potts connected on a two-out triple to the right center, his ninth of the year.  Gray brought him in with his base hit to center field.

 

                Ariail finished off the game in the bottom of the inning to post his fifth save of the season.  Hontz went five inning, scattered seven hits, allowed two runs, walked two and struck out four to improve his record to 11-1.  Ariail pitched four shutout innings as he allowed four hits and posted a pair of strikeouts in the Eagles third straight win.

 

                Lenoir-Rhyne starter Chris Henderson (4-8) tossed eight innings in the loss.  L-R’s Daniel Ford went 3-for-5 in the game, while Glass also added three hits in the loss.

 

Lenoir-Rhyne 6, No. 19 Tusculum 4 (10 innings)

                Anthony Sully went 2-for-5 and scored the winning run in the top of the 10th inning as Lenoir-Rhyne defeated No. 19 Tusculum 6-4 in extra innings in the final game of the Classic.  L-R rallied from a 4-1 deficit as the Bears plated three runs in the eighth inning and two in the 10th for the victory.

 

                Tusculum’s Maikol Gonzalez extended his hitting streak to 27 games in a row as he went 3-for-4, while Carlos Rivera, Eric Conley and Aaron Hudgins each posted multi-hit outings as the Pioneers suffered only their fourth loss at home this season (18-4).

 

                Tusculum (38-13) tallied two runs in the bottom of the first as Rivera clubbed a solo home run over the left field wall, his eighth round-tripper of the year.  Matt Webb drew a two-out walk, moved to second on Conley’s first hit of the day and later scored on a wild pitch as TC led 2-0.

 

                L-R responded with a run in the top of the second when Evan Taylor led off with a single and later scored on a RBI hit by Brian Dice.

 

                The score remained that way until the fifth as the Pioneers took advantage of a Lenoir-Rhyne error.  Marc Hyndsman led off with a walk and moved to second on a failed pickoff attempt at first base.  After a wild pitch moved him to third, Hyndsman scored on Rivera’s fly out in foul territory down the left field line.  TC plated its fourth run of the afternoon in the seventh when Christian Rosa tripled to the gap in right center and later scored on a passed ball as TC led 4-1.

 

                Lenoir-Rhyne battled back in the eighth as the Bears muscled out three runs on three hits.  Sully reached on a one-out single and moved to third on Daniel Ford’s 20th double of the season to put runners in scoring position.  Taylor reached on a fielding error, driving in Sully from third and placing runners on the corners.  Glass legged out a fielder’s choice, avoiding an inning-ending double play to score Ford from third.  Glass stole second base and scored on Drucker’s two-out single to knot the game at 4-4.

 

                Tusculum had a chance to end the game in the ninth inning as the Pioneers had two chances for victory.  Hudgins led off with a single and followed with a stolen base.  After a walk to Rosa, Rivera grounded to the hole on the left side, but L-R shortstop Caden Cross came up with a great play to force out Hudgins at third base for the first out.  Gonzalez followed with a sharp single through the right side of the infield, but Rosa was gunned down at the plate by a laser throw by Taylor in right field for the second out of the frame.  With runners on the corners once again, Webb bounced a grounder between first base and the mound.  L-R reliever Jesse Beane came up with the play of the day as he picked up the ground ball and his head-first dive to first base barely edged out Webb to send the contest into extra innings.

 

                In the 10th, Sully led off with a single and moved to second on a walk to Ford.  Taylor moved the runners up a base with his sacrifice bunt.  TC intentionally walked Glass to load the bases with one out.  During Drucker’s at-bat, Sully scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch.  Drucker brought home an insurance run with his deep fly out to center.

 

                L-R bullpen ace Josh Keller came on to pitch the 10th as he surrendered a lead off single by Conley.  TC got pinch runner Jake Fowler to second base, but that’s as far as he would go as Keller retired the next three batters on back-to-back strikeouts and a fly out to end the game.

 

                Beane (5-1) pitched two innings as he allowed three hits and a walk, while Keller recorded his fourth save of the year.  TC reliever Carlos Ortiz (3-2) suffered the loss.

 

                Tusculum out-hit the Bears 11-10, but stranded 10 runners in game, ending the Pioneers’ six-game winning streak.

 

                The Pioneers wrap up their regular season and will be back in action May 15-18 at the NCAA Division II South Regional.  Carson-Newman also completes its regular season slate as the Eagles will await word of a possible at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament.  L-R ends its season at 23-32.

 

- TC -