OVERVIEW – CARSON-NEWMAN
SCORES: No. 14 Northwood Timberwolves 5, Carson-Newman Eagles 4; Carson-Newman 5, Northwood 0
RECORDS: Northwood 1-1, Carson-Newman 6-3
LOCATION: Silver Diamond – Jefferson City, Tenn.
RECAP: Fourteenth-ranked Northwood opened their 2018 season by splitting a pair of games at Carson-Newman Sunday (February 18), with NU winning game one 5-4 before CNU picked up a 5-0 victory in the nightcap.
GAME ONE HIGHLIGHTS
On a windy day in Jefferson City, Northwood used the long ball early to take the lead. The Timberwolves got a pair of solo homers in the second inning, as Nick Palmer and Travis Janes each cleared the fence in their first at-bat of the year to give NU a 2-0 advantage.
Northwood extended their lead in the third inning with two more runs. Ryan McClelland hit NU’s third home run of the game to put the Timberwolves up 3-0. Then after a David Vinsky double, Javier Martinez drove him home on an RBI single to put the Timberwolves up 4-0 after three innings.
The Eagles bounced back with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth, but Vinsky followed with a solo homer for the Timberwolves in the top of the fifth to make the score 5-2.
Carson-Newman continued to battle, scoring one in the fifth before a dramatic finish in the seventh and final inning.
The Eagles scored a run and had runners on first and third with one out, but Ian Dimitrie got a strikeout and a ground out to close out the victory.
GAME ONE STATS
Runs/Hits/Errors Northwood: 5/7/3, Carson-Newman: 4/7/3
Runners Left on Base: Northwood: 6 Carson-Newman: 7
Winning Pitcher: Dimitrie (1-0): 7 IP, four runs (three earned), seven hits five strikeouts
Losing Pitcher: Dalton Long (0-1): 5 1/3 IP, five runs, six hits, five strikeouts
TOP NU PERFORMERS
Vinsky: 3-4, 2B, HR, RBI
McClelland/Palmer/Janes: HR each
Martinez: RBI
NORTHWOOD NOTES
Northwood’s four home runs in a game matched their season-high from the entire 2017 season, which the Timberwolves did three times.
GAME TWO HIGHLIGHTS
After game one featured five combined home runs, game two was dominated by the pitchers.
Northwood got two runners on with one out in the top of the first inning, but that would prove to be one of their best scoring chances of the game.
Carson-Newman plated single runs in the second and the fifth before scoring three in the eighth inning to put the game away.
The Eagles pitching proved to be the story of the game. Northwood did not get their first hit of the game until there was one out in the ninth inning.
While the Timberwolves did draw eight walks in the game and were hit by two pitches, CNU pitching struck out 19 NU batters in the contest.
GAME ONE STATS
Runs/Hits/Errors Northwood: 0/1/2, Carson-Newman: 5/9/0
Runners Left on Base: Northwood: 10, Carson-Newman: 6
Winning Pitcher: Dillon Cate (2-0): 7 1/3 IP, zero runs, zero hits, 15 strikeouts, six walks, 142 pitches
Losing Pitcher: Jake Gross (0-1): 5.0 IP, two runs, five hits, two runs, four strikeouts
TOP NU PERFORMERS
Palmer: 1-3, walk
Vinsky/McClelland: two walks each
QUOTING COACH JORDAN BISCHEL
“As always, Carson-Newman is a great test to start the season. They are extremely well-coached and had two very talented starting pitchers today. For the most part, we competed well defensively and on the mound, which is difficult to do the first time you are on the field. We will be excited to get back out tomorrow.”
