KODAK, Tenn. --- Freshman pitcher Jordan Davis made his first collegiate win a memorable one as he tossed a complete game to lead seventh-seeded Carson-Newman to an 11-5 win over No. 5 seed Tusculum in an elimination game of the 2017 Pilot / Flying J South Atlantic Conference Baseball Tournament at Smokies Stadium Saturday afternoon.
The Eagles (27-23) advance to Sunday's elimination game against an opponent yet to be determined. The Pioneers (28-20) are eliminated from the SAC Tournament and will close out their season on Wednesday when they host Bluefield State at Pioneer Park beginning at 4 p.m.
Davis scattered eight hits, five runs (four earned), walked five and struck out five in his 143-pitch performance in only his fourth career start.
Meanwhile, Carson-Newman's bats erupted for 16 hits, including three hits each by the trio of Ryan Addington, Eric Lynch and Brett Langhorne.
For a second straight game, Tusculum jumped out to an early 2-0 lead as rookie second baseman Daulton Martin belted the first of two home runs on the afternoon with his two-run blast to right field in the top of the second inning.
Carson-Newman answered with a three-run, third inning as the Eagles tallied their first five hits of the game, all singles against TC starting pitcher Ethan Stewart (1-2). C-N followed with two more runs in the fourth for a 5-2 advantage.
Martin led off the sixth inning with his second round-tripper of the day to trim the C-N lead to 5-3. But the Eagles put the game away with six runs in the bottom of the inning as Carson-Newman sent 11 batters to the plate. C-N tallied six more hits, including back-to-back two-run doubles from Addington and Lynch to push the lead out to 11-3.
TC senior Dante Key drove in a run with his team-leading seventh sacrifice fly of the year in the eighth inning, while senior Nick Lacina drove in another with his RBI fly out in the ninth.
The Tusculum graduate student pitching duo of Zach Slagle and Christian Raasch blanked Carson-Newman in the final three innings. Slagle went two innings, allowed two hits and record three strikeouts. Raasch, who started in Friday's game against Lincoln Memorial, pitched the eighth inning as he worked around a single, a double and a walk, but ended the inning with back-to-back strikeouts.
Martin finished game going 2-for-3 with his third and fourth home runs of the season to go along with a walk. The Pioneers also got a double from Lacina, and base hits from John Topoleski, Edison Cabrera, Zach Finchum, Cole Baxley and Dante Key.
