Bears split games

Carson-Newman jumped out to a five-run lead and withstood a late Lenoir-Rhyne rally to win the second game of a doubleheader 8-5 and earn a split with the Bears in South Atlantic Conference play at Bears Field on Sunday.

Carson-Newman (17-15, 3-10 SAC) led 8-3 after four and a half innings and reliever Corbin Ariail earned his fourth save of the season pitching 1 1/3 innings, allowing no runs and giving up two hits.

Seventeenth-ranked Lenoir-Rhyne (21-8, 7-1) plated two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to narrow the difference to the final score, but the Bears had the bases loaded with two outs in the bottom of the seventh with the game-winning run at the plate when Ariail got Rob Knight to ground out for the final out of the game.

Prior to his last at bat, Knight had walked, singled, scored two runs, had one run batted in and doubled twice in his first four trips to the plate.

"We didn't really play that well today for us," said Lenoir-Rhyne head coach Paul Knight. "We made too many easy outs today and didn't pitch well. That is not a good recipe for winning."

In the first game, Knight was 1-for-2, and was 4-for-6 with three runs, one RBI and two extra base hits on both games combined.

"We have been struggling to hold onto leads," said Carson-Newman head coach Tom Griffin. "Lenoir-Rhyne has a very good team. They are a confident bunch and have been playing well so it was good for us to hang on. This was a big win for us. To get Knight was big because in that second game we had not gotten him out all night."

Lenoir-Rhyne hurt itself with stranded runners in scoring position. The Bears left 11 runners on base, seven in scoring position.

Carson-Newman took what appeared at the time to be a comfortable lead, 8-3, in the top of the sixth inning with five runs off four hits to break a 3-3 tie.

The Eagles had a triple, home run and was aided by the Bears with a hit batter and two wild pitches.

Wesley Dozier started the inning with a single, advanced to second on a wild pitch, and Derek Long singled to put runners at third and first.

Mills Rogers provided the big blow with a three-run home run off a 2-2 count that hit the top of the scoreboard for a 6-3 lead.

Carson-Newman added two insurance runs off reliever Blake Edmonson for an 8-3 lead.

The Eagles played long ball with the Bears with five of their first 10 hits being for extra bases.

Lenoir-Rhyne closed the difference to the final score in the sixth inning with two runs on a RBI single by Knight and then Knight rounded out the scoring on a double by Eva Taylor.

Carson-Newman's Ryan Hendrickson (2-2) earned the win in relief, and Lenoir-Rhyne starter Greg Conrad (4-2) suffered the loss.

Hendrickson allowed one run off one hit, walked two and struck out one in 1 2/3 innings.

Conrad allowed six runs off seven hits, struck out eight and walked one in five innings.

Knight led Lenoir-Rhyne with three hits, two runs and one RBI, while Zach Glass added three hits and one RBI.

Carson-Newman was led by Tyler Wynn with three hits, one run and two RBIs, while Evan Patterson and Derek Long had two hits each.

LENOIR RHYNE 10, CARSON-NEWMAN 4: In game one, the two teams battled back and forth as there were two ties and lead changes.

The pivotal innings were the sixth and fourth innings.

Lenoir-Rhyne broke a 4-4 tie in the bottom of the sixth inning with six runs off five hits.

The Bears had four singles, a hit batter and a grand slam.

Three of the Bears' singles were infield bunt singles.

Glass started the inning when he was hit by Carson-Newman's Evan Taylor.

Brian Dice and Hank Wofford followed with consecutive bunt singles to load the bases with no outs.

Michael Pleau pushed across the winning run when he singled on a 1-1 count off Michael Elliott to score Glass and Dice for a 6-4 Lenoir-Rhyne lead.

Taylor rounded out the scoring three batters later with a grand slam for the final score.

Carson-Newman attempted a rally in the top of the seventh when two of the first three batters reached base, but the Bears ended the game with a double play.

Max Loveland (2-0) earned the win in relief.

Loveland limited the Eagles hits and no runs in 1 2/3 innings.

Justin Higdon (2-5) took the loss in relief. Hidgon allowed four runs off five hits in one inning.

Carson-Newman hurt itself as well stranding 11 runners, nine in scoring position.

The Eagles outhit the Bears 8-5 through the first five innings, and left the bases loaded in each of the first two innings and three of the first four.

Carson-Newman missed a golden opportunity in the top of the fourth inning with the score tied at three loading the bases with one out.

But Chris Henderson got Tyler Wynn and Tyler Kitts flied out to second and right respectively to end the inning.

Lenoir-Rhyne's starter Henderson, who entered with a 4-0 record and 3.48 earned run average allowed four runs off eight hits, struck out seven, walked five and hit two batters in 5 1/3 innings.

Dice and Wofford led Lenoir-Rhyne with two hits each.

Mills Rogers led Carson-Newman with two hits as 10 different players got a hit.

Lenoir-Rhyne faces UNC Pembroke at Pembroke at 3 p.m. on Wednesday.

The next home series for Lenoir-Rhyne is Friday through Saturday with conference foe Mars Hill.

Friday is a single game and Saturday is a doubleheader.

Game 1
Carson-Newman 1 2 0 0 0 1 0— 4 11 0
Lenoir-Rhyne 0 3 0 1 0 6 X —10 10 1
McIntyre, Ariail (4), Higdon (5), Elliott (6) and Guymon. Henderson, Loveland (6) and Knight. WP - Loveland (2-0). LP - Higdo (2-5).

Game 2
Carson-Newman 0 0 1 2 0 5 0— 8 11 1
Lenoir-Rhyne 0 0 1 1 1 2 0— 5 12 0
Thigpen, Hendrickson (4), Boruff (5), Ariail (7) and Harless. Conrad, Edmonson (6), Garcia (6) and Dice. WP - Hendrickson (2-2). LP - Conrad (4-2). Sv. - Ariail (4).