North Knoxville News

Carson-Newman scored four runs in the fourth inning and the bullpen allowed three base runners to guide the Eagles to a South Atlantic Conference series victory taking the finale against Mars Hill 4-2 on Sunday at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex.

"There was really good pitching on both sides," Carson-Newman coach Tom Griffin said. "Ethan Patch did a really good job giving us zeroes through four. Then our relief, single runs are okay and you try to avoid the crooked numbers. Tyler Shaver was very effective. Hunter Harritan the last two innings was tremendous. It's really encouraging to see how well those guys pitched. Our defense was stellar."

The Eagles have won 11 of their last 16 league contests and four of the last five series against SAC foes. Carson-Newman (8-11, 2-1) has won eight of the last nine meetings with Mars Hill (4-16, 2-4). After winning a league opener for the eighth time in the last 11 years yesterday, the program is now 19-12-2 in the first series of a league year.

The Eagles had been held to one hit until the fourth inning when the group exploded for four runs. Mitchell Balint (Avondale, Pa.) laced a triple down the right-field line to start the scoring. Zach Boze (Gallatin, Tenn.) drove in Balint with a double to left-center field before scoring on an error. Ben Willcoxon (Dandridge, Tenn.) shredded a base hit to left field to put the group on top 4-0.

Chad Sikes singled through the middle with two outs in the fifth to get the Lions on the board and Luke Hayes cranked a solo homer on the first pitch of the sixth to trim the margin to 4-2.

The bullpen did the rest tossing the final 4 2/3 innings giving up two hits and a walk with six strikeouts as Hunter Harritan (Huntersville, N.C.) slammed the door shut getting the final five outs with two punch outs.

Each team tallied six hits in the game as Boze finished 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored for the Eagles. C-N went 3-for-6 with runners in scoring position holding the Lions to a 1-for-5 clip.

Alex Naran posted two of Mars Hill's six knocks on the day scoring one of the two runs. The Lions' bullpen allowed one hit and no runs in 4 2/3 innings.

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