Feb. 24, 2008

Final Stats

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. - Senior Brett Hontz tossed a complete game and Derrick Long hit a solo home run as the Carson-Newman Eagles beat Catawba 3-2 to win the weekend series.

Hontz (WP, 2-1) allowed two runs on eight hits, but struck out 10 in the win.

Catawba (10-5, 4-2 SAC) grabbed the lead in the fourth, plating the game's first run. Junior Jerry Sands singled sharply up the middle with one out. Catcher Ryan Query doubled down the third base line, past a diving Cory McGinnis, to score Sands and make it 1-0 Indians.

Carson-Newman (12-6, 3-3 SAC) took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the fifth.

Junior Tyler Wynn singled to lead off the inning. The LaGrange, Georgia-native appeared to be picked off stealing second, but his slide jarred the ball loose from shortstop Chris Ahearn's glove. He would score on a single by Jason Gray later in the inning.

Gray would steal second, and later score on Cory McGinnis' single, the Eagles' third of the inning.

Catawba tied the game at 2-2 on a David Thomas home run in the sixth. The Indians' centerfielder lined a Hontz-offering over the fence in right-center to knot the score.

The Eagles answered with their own blast. Long's shot off Catawba starter Alex Fairweather (LP, 2-1) to left in the bottom of the inning gave the Eagles a 3-2 lead.

Hontz struck out Query with the bases loaded in the eighth to get out of his final jam of the day. C-N chose to intentionally walk Catawba slugger Jerry Sands with two outs, despite first and second being occupied, but the gamble paid off with the strikeout.

Carson-Newman returns home on Wednesday to host Milligan for a 2 p.m. start.