NEWBERRY, S.C. – Continuing the trend of exciting baseball at the Food Lion South Atlantic Conference baseball tournament, top-seeded Carson-Newman College scored eight runs in its last three at-bats and junior Ryan West tied a conference record with his 15th save as the Eagles advanced to the championship game with an 11-8 victory over No. 4 Tusculum College Saturday night at Kirkland Field. Carson-Newman will play No. 3 Catawba College on Sunday at noon.

Tusculum opened the game with two runs in the first inning. Carson-Newman responded with three runs in its half of the first, with junior shortstop Jared Hubbard driving in two runs with a home run.

The Pioneers retook the lead with two runs in the fifth, starting their rally after two were out. Carson-Newman escaped further damage by getting the third out with the bases loaded.

C-N took the lead again in the sixth inning, 5-4, this time for good. Junior third baseman Ryan Haun knocked in the go-ahead run with an RBI single.

The Eagles extended their lead to 8-4 in the seventh, but the Pioneers answered with three runs in the next half inning to pull within one. Freshman designated hitter George Hanger had the big hit in the inning, a two-run single. The Pioneers scored the third run in the inning with a double from senior first baseman Casey Taylor, but left the bases loaded for the second time in the contest.

With the score now 8-7, Carson-Newman added some much needed insurance runs, scoring three times in the eighth, and held off a TC rally in the ninth for the win.

Tusculum (29-24) pounded out 16 hits in all, with Hanger and Taylor getting three hits apiece. Carson-Newman (39-16) had 14 hits, with senior right fielder Heath Mason and Hubbard contributing three hits each.

Freshman John Wallace (4-1) picks up the win in relief for Carson-Newman and Tusculum starter Jeff Bryant (5-1) takes the loss.

Food Lion / SAC Spring Sports Festival - Game 13
Tusculum College vs Carson-Newman
Apr 27, 2002 at Newberry, S.C. (Kirkland Field)

  Tusculum College 8 (29-24)                    Carson-Newman 11 (39-16)

  Player                      AB  R  H BI       Player                      AB  R  H BI
  ---------------------------------------       ---------------------------------------
  Dave McMahon cf............  5  1  2  0       Jim Higgins 2b.............  5  0  1  0
  Michael Holt lf............  5  3  2  0       Wes Ward c.................  3  3  2  1
  J. Martinez 3b.............  5  2  2  1       Aaron Shaffer lf/cf........  4  0  0  0
  G. Hanger dh...............  6  1  3  4       Heath Mason rf.............  5  3  3  5
  Casey Taylor 1b............  4  0  3  2       Jared Hubbard ss...........  5  3  3  2
  Stonesifer rf..............  1  0  1  0       Jason Southerland 1b.......  4  0  1  0
  Rob Bouman ss..............  3  0  0  0       Jason Lineberger dh........  4  0  1  1
   V. Puentes ph.............  1  0  0  0       Nathan Gravley cf/p........  4  1  1  1
   M. Klossner ss............  1  0  0  0       Ryan Haun 3b...............  4  1  2  1
  Scott Reames c.............  4  0  2  0       Chad Wallace p.............  0  0  0  0
   Mike Calano pr............  0  0  0  0        John Wallace p............  0  0  0  0
   Doug Hering c.............  1  0  0  0        Adam Kuzma lf.............  0  0  0  0
  Trevor Adams 2b............  5  1  1  0        Ryan West p...............  0  0  0  0
  Jeff Bryant p..............  0  0  0  0
   Jason Davis p.............  0  0  0  0
  Totals..................... 41  8 16  7       Totals..................... 38 11 14 11

  Score by Innings                    R  H  E
  -------------------------------------------
  Tusculum College.... 200 020 031 -  8 16  0
  Carson-Newman....... 300 002 33X - 11 14  3
  -------------------------------------------

  E - Higgins; Hubbard; Haun. DP - Eagles 2. LOB - Pioneers 14; Eagles 6. 2B - Michael
  Holt; Casey Taylor 2; Higgins; Ward. HR - Mason 2; Hubbard. HBP - Casey Taylor;
  Stonesifer 3. SB - Ward; Hubbard.

  Tusculum College               IP  H  R ER BB SO  WP BK HP IBB  AB BF  FO GO
  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Jeff Bryant  L,5-1.........   6.1  9  7  7  3  5   3  0  0  0   28 31   3 11
  Jason Davis ...............   1.2  5  4  4  0  2   0  0  0  0   10 10   2  1

  Carson-Newman                  IP  H  R ER BB SO  WP BK HP IBB  AB BF  FO GO
  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Chad Wallace ..............   5.0  7  4  4  3  0   1  0  3  0   19 25   2  9
  John Wallace  W,4-1........   2.0  2  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0    9  9   5  1
  Nathan Gravley ............   0.2  5  3  3  1  0   0  0  1  0    6  8   0  1
  Ryan West  S,15............   1.1  2  1  0  0  3   0  0  0  0    7  7   1  0

  WP - Jeff Bryant 3; C. Wallace. HB - Gravley; C. Wallace 3.

  Strikeouts - J. Martinez; M. Klossner; Doug Hering; Shaffer 2; Mason; Hubbard;
  Southerland; Linebarger; Haun. Walks - Dave McMahon; Michael Holt; J. Martinez;
  Stonesifer; Ward 2; Shaffer.

  Start: 5:59 pm   Time: 2:32   Attendance: 126