JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. - The Caldwell College baseball team had a pair of four-run innings en route to a 14-7 triumph over Carson-Newman College Tuesday afternoon at the C-N Silver Diamond. Freshman Adric Saxon (Coral Springs, FL/Taravella) had two hits and four runs batted in for the Cougars, who are now 6-3 on the season, including a 2-1 mark on their Tennessee trip. The Eagles fall to 19-11 with the loss. Game two of the scheduled doubleheader was not played due to rain.
The Cougars jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first, getting RBIs from Saxon and junior Chris Chiarappa (Elmont, NY/Holy Trinity). After the Eagles took the lead in the bottom of the first with a three-run home run by Derek Long, Saxon hit a three-run double as part of a four-run second inning to give the Cougars a 6-3 advantage. Caldwell answered a Carson-Newman run in the second with three more in the top of the third. Freshman Doug Hilgenberg (Flemington, NJ/Hunterdon Central) drove in a run, then later scored on a balk. Junior Tommy Murphy (Monroe, NY/Washingtonville) knocked in another run in the third to put the Cougars up 9-4.
The Eagles closed the gap with three runs in the fourth to pull to within two, 9-7. Murphy responded for the Cougars with an RBI single in the fifth. Four more runs in the top of the seventh locked up the win for Caldwell. Murphy hit a bases-loaded single to score a run, and freshman Raymond Keelan (Barnegat, NJ/Southern Regional) and senior Billy Ryan (Toms River, NJ/Manchester) had RBI doubles in the inning.
Sophomore right-hander Stephen Pfeil (Hampstead, NH/Pinherton Academy) picked up the win, allowing seven runs, five earned, on 10 hits in six innings to improve to 2-1.Murphy, Ryan, Saxon, and freshman Omar Velazquez (Astoria, NY/Long Island City) each had a pair of hits, with Murphy driving in three runs.
Caldwell, which has scored 35 runs in three games in Tennessee, plays a doubleheader at Lincoln Memorial University on Wednesday, Mar. 21. The first game starts at 2:00 p.m. in Harrogate, Tenn.
