Carson-Newman Stays Alive In Baseball Tournament With 14-9 Win Over Wingate

HICKORY, N.C. - Senior Nick Achberger (Anderson, S.C.) and junior Tyler Winn (LaGrange, Ga.) each enjoyed a three-hit afternoon as Carson-Newman College (38-15) defeated Wingate University (20-34), 14-9, in an elimination game of the 2008 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Baseball Tournament on Saturday afternoon at L.P. Frans Stadium in Hickory, N.C. Carson-Newman now faces Catawba in a second elimination game on Saturday night.

Carson-Newman broke open a tight game with five runs in the sixth inning. Mills Rogers (Simpsonville, S.C.) and Jason Gray (Rutledge, Tenn.) each had two-run singles as the Eagles went on top 13-7. Gray finished the game with three RBI.

The Eagles overcame an early deficit and took the lead for the first time in the fifth. Achberger doubled with two outs and scored to tie the game at six-all on a throwing error when Derek Long (Jefferson City, Tenn.) beat out an infield hit. The Eagles took the lead on a bases loaded walk to Gray and added another run on Jonathan McMahon's (Charlotte, N.C.) single.

Wingate (20-34) had jumped on Carson-Newman early, scoring five times the first inning. Eagle starter Jacob Lambert (Kettle River, Minn.) did not get out of the first frame as he allowed one hit, a RBI single to Matt Crump (Matthews, N.C.), and issued three walks.

With two outs, Cale Rogers (Snow Camp, N.C.), who led Wingate with three hits, blooped an 0-2 pitch into center off reliever Charlie Hill (Belmont, N.C.) to score a pair of runs. Scott Kelly (Marston, N.C.) and Alex Chapman (Morganton, N.C.) added RBI singles before the Eagles registered the final out.

Carson-Newman battled back to tie the score after two innings. The Eagles scored twice in its first as the Eagles collected three straight one-out hits, capped by a two-run triple by Achberger. C-N looked for more but Nick Siega-Riz (Clemmons, N.C.) turned a line drive to center into a double play when he gunned down Achberger at the plate.

The Eagles pushed across the tying runs in the second as Cory McGinnis (Morristown, N.C.) plated a pair of runs when he beat a slow roller to second.

Kelly picked up his second RBI of the day for the Bulldogs in the fifth as he singled home Crump, who had reached on an error. It gave Wingate the lead at 6-5, but Carson-Newman struck for its three runs and went on to record the win.

Dustin Dalton (Blaine, Tenn.) got the save for Carson-Newman. He entered the game in the eighth after the Bulldogs scored twice to cut the margin to 13-9 and had two runners on with no outs, but got a double play ground out and a fly out to end the threat.

Wingate vs Carson-Newman
Apr 19, 2008 at Hickory, NC (L.P. Frans)

Wingate 9 (20-34) Carson-Newman 14 (38-15)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI
--------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------
Nick Siega-Riz cf.......... 4 2 1 0 Langdon Potts 2b........... 4 1 0 0
Aaron Knowles 3b........... 3 2 1 0 Cory McGinnis 3b........... 5 1 2 2
Heath Weatherford 1b....... 5 0 2 1 Wesley Dozier dh........... 3 2 1 0
Dustin Hurdle dh........... 3 1 2 1 Corey Lamson ph........... 1 0 0 0
Matt Crump c............... 3 2 1 2 Nick Achberger lf.......... 5 2 3 2
Blair Troutman ph/c....... 1 0 0 0 Derek Long 1b.............. 4 2 2 0
Spencer Robinson lf........ 4 1 0 0 Tyler Wynn rf.............. 4 3 3 0
Cale Rogers rf............. 5 1 3 2 Mills Rogers ss............ 4 2 2 2
Scott Kelly 2b............. 5 0 2 2 Jason Gray cf.............. 4 0 1 3
Alex Chapman ss............ 4 0 1 1 Jonathan McMahon c......... 3 1 2 1
Grayson Tanner ph......... 1 0 0 0 Jacob Lambert p............ 0 0 0 0
Kevin Childs p............. 0 0 0 0 Charlie Hill p............ 0 0 0 0
Cameron Falcon p.......... 0 0 0 0 Justin Higdon p........... 0 0 0 0
Dusty White p............. 0 0 0 0 Jake McDonald p........... 0 0 0 0
Matt Roldan p............. 0 0 0 0 Dustin Dalton p........... 0 0 0 0
Totals..................... 38 9 13 9 Totals..................... 37 14 16 10

Score by Innings R H E
-------------------------------------------
Wingate............. 500 011 020 - 9 13 3
Carson-Newman....... 230 035 01X - 14 16 4
-------------------------------------------

E - N.Siega-Riz(5); A.Chapman 2(44); Achberger(1); Wynn(2); Rogers(19); Gray(3). DP
- WU 3; C-N 2. LOB - WU 10; C-N 6. 2B - HWeatherford(10); C.Rogers(5);
Achberger(16); Wynn(9). 3B - Achberger(6). HBP - Dozier; Long; Wynn; McMahon. SF -
M.Crump(1). SB - Potts(18); McGinnis(3); Wynn(7); Gray(28).

Wingate IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF FO GO
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kevin Childs .............. 3.0 7 5 4 1 4 2 0 1 0 14 16 1 2
Cameron Falcon L,2-2...... 2.1 5 5 5 2 0 0 0 1 0 12 15 2 5
Dusty White ............... 2.0 4 4 2 0 1 0 0 2 0 9 11 2 2
Matt Roldan ............... 0.2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 1 0

Carson-Newman IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF FO GO
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jacob Lambert ............. 0.2 1 4 4 3 1 1 0 0 0 3 6 1 0
Charlie Hill .............. 0.1 3 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 4 1 0
Justin Higdon W,4-0....... 4.0 4 2 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 16 18 7 4
Jake McDonald ............. 2.0 4 2 2 2 2 1 0 0 1 9 12 3 1
Dustin Dalton S,2......... 2.0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 6 4 1

WP - K.Childs 2(7); Lambert(1); McDonald(3). HBP - by K.Childs (Long); by C.Falcon
(Dozier); by D.White (Wynn); by D.White (McMahon). PB - M.Crump(10).

Strikeouts - HWeatherford 2; S.Robinson; Potts; Dozier; Lamson; Wynn; Gray. Walks -
N.Siega-Riz 2; A.Knowles 2; D.Hurdle 2; S.Robinson; Potts; Rogers; Gray.

Umpires - HP: Al Wilker 1B: Tommy Caudle 3B: Josh Reep
Start: 4:00 pm Time: 3:12 Attendance: 140

Higdon faced 1 batter in the 6th.
McDonald faced 4 batters in the 8th.

Tusculum 12, Catawba 7

HICKORY, N.C. - On the strength of four home runs, Tusculum College (37-12) advanced to the finals of the 2008 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Baseball Tournament Championship with a 12-7 victory over Catawba College (36-15) Saturday afternoon at L.P. Frans Stadium in Hickory, N.C.

Tusculum's Sean Cotten (Mooresville, N.C.) finished with three hits and four runs batted in while Maikol Gonzalez (Maracaibo, Venezuela) added four hits as the Pioneers scored at least one run in each of the last six innings of the game.

Catawba got things going in the bottom of the first inning on Craige Lyerly's (Salisbury, N.C./East Rowan HS) two-run single.

After the Catawba Indians pushed the lead 4-0 with two runs in the third inning, Tusculum reeled off nine straight runs aided by two-run home runs from Cotten, Matt Webb (Duluth, Ga.) and Christian Rosa (Toa Baja, Puerto Rico) in the fourth, sixth and seventh innings, respectively.

Catawba's David Thomas (Winston-Salem, N.C.), the 2008 SAC Player Of The Year, hit a two-run home run to cut the margin to 9-6 in the bottom of the seventh, but Tusculum regained control with two runs in the top of the eighth inning en route to the win.

Thomas finished with four runs scored while Lyerly drove in three runs for Catawba, who will face the Carson-Newman-Wingate winner in an elimination game at 7:30 p.m.

TC's Carlos Ortiz (Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico) improved to 3-1 with the win while Catawba's Travis McSweeney (Palm Harbor, Fla.) fell to 4-1 after suffering the loss.

Tio McLean (Laurel Hill, N.C.) picked up his third save of the year for the Pioneers.

#29 Tusculum vs #23 Catawba
Apr 19, 2008 at Hickory, NC (L.P. Frans)

Tusculum 12 (37-12) Catawba 7 (36-15)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI
--------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------
Christian Rosa lf.......... 6 1 1 2 David Thomas cf............ 3 4 2 2
Carlos Rivera cf........... 6 2 3 1 Chad Baker 2b.............. 5 1 2 1
Maikol Gonzalez 2b......... 6 3 4 1 Jerry Sands rf............. 4 0 2 1
Matt Webb rf............... 5 2 1 2 Ryan Query c............... 3 1 0 0
Eric Conley dh............. 3 1 0 0 Craige Lyerly 3b........... 5 0 2 3
Matt Ford ph.............. 1 0 0 0 Brett Hatley dh............ 2 0 0 0
Sean Cotten 1b............. 5 2 3 4 Kevin McMillan ph......... 0 0 0 0
Paul Finger 3b............. 4 0 1 1 Andrew O'Neal pr/dh....... 0 0 0 0
Marc Hyndsman c............ 3 1 3 1 Chris Ahearn ss............ 5 0 0 0
Aaron Hudgins ss........... 3 0 0 0 Bubba Morris 1b............ 4 0 0 0
Tyler Collins p............ 0 0 0 0 Nathan Furr ph............ 1 0 0 0
Carlos Ortiz p............ 0 0 0 0 Matt Kepley lf............. 4 1 1 0
Ryan Pfleger p............ 0 0 0 0 Tim Holmes p............... 0 0 0 0
Tio McLean p.............. 0 0 0 0 Travis McSweeney p........ 0 0 0 0
Keith Carrigan p.......... 0 0 0 0
Matt Seabolt p............ 0 0 0 0
Cliff Poole p............. 0 0 0 0
Totals..................... 42 12 16 12 Totals..................... 36 7 9 7

Score by Innings R H E
-------------------------------------------
Tusculum............ 000 223 221 - 12 16 1
Catawba............. 202 000 210 - 7 9 3
-------------------------------------------

E - P.Finger(8); C.Lyerly(15); B.Morris(9); T.Holmes(1). LOB - TC 12; CAT 10. 2B -
M.Hyndsman(4); M.Kepley(4). HR - C.Rosa(10); C.Rivera(7); M.Webb(4); S.Cotten(4);
D.Thomas(16). HBP - E.Conley; M.Hyndsman; D.Thomas. SH - M.Webb(4); A.Hudgins(4). SF
- P.Finger(2). SB - C.Rivera(11); M.Gonzalez(24). CS - J.Sands(4).

Tusculum IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF FO GO
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tyler Collins ............. 2.2 4 4 4 2 2 1 0 1 0 12 15 4 2
Carlos Ortiz W,3-1........ 3.2 3 2 2 2 1 0 0 0 0 13 15 3 6
Ryan Pfleger .............. 0.1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 3 1 0
Tio McLean S,3............ 2.1 2 1 1 2 4 0 1 0 0 9 11 2 1

Catawba IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF FO GO
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tim Holmes ................ 4.1 5 4 2 1 4 0 1 2 0 19 23 2 7
Travis McSweeney L,4-1.... 1.2 3 3 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 7 10 3 2
Keith Carrigan ............ 1.0 2 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 5 2 1
Matt Seabolt .............. 1.0 6 3 3 1 1 1 0 0 0 9 10 1 1
Cliff Poole ............... 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 3 2 1

WP - T.Collins(3); M.Seabolt(1). HBP - by T.Collins (D.Thomas); by T.Holmes (E.Conley);
by T.Holmes (M.Hyndsman). BK - T.McLean(2); T.Holmes(1). PB - R.Query(5).

Strikeouts - C.Rosa 2; M.Webb 2; E.Conley; C.Baker; J.Sands; R.Query; C.Ahearn 2;
N.Furr; M.Kepley. Walks - E.Conley; S.Cotten; M.Hyndsman; A.Hudgins; D.Thomas;
J.Sands; R.Query 2; B.Hatley; K.McMillan; A.O'Neal.

Umpires - HP: Travis Rose 1B: Mike Furches 3B: Gary Swanson
Start: 12:00 PM Time: 3:05 Attendance: 165

Game notes:
Game was delayed 13 minutes for rain after the 6th inning.
M.Seabolt faced 2 batters in the 9th.