April 23, 2007

Stats

GREENVILLE, S.C. - Carson-Newman scored three runs in the 12th inning and go on to the 6-3 victory over Tusculum to win the Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Tournament Championship on Sunday afternoon at Municipal Stadium.

The second-seeded Eagles (35-18) claim the league's automatic berth to the NCAA Division II South Regionals. Tusculum (44-12) will now wait word on an at-large berth to the regionals.

The game was a marathon affair that lasted three hours and 57 minutes, the longest game in SAC Tournament history and the sixth-longest game in the league. The Eagles advanced to the championship game after defeating Tusculum 11-3 earlier in the day.

Carson-Newman loaded the bases with one out in the first. Leftfielder Adam Kefauver drove in two runs with a single through the right side to give the Eagles a 2-0 lead.

In the home half of the first, Christian Rosa got the Pioneers on the board with an opposite-field solo homerun, his eighth of the season, to trim the lead to 2-1.

The Pioneers would threaten to take the lead in the second. However, with runners at first and second and one out, Marc Hyndsman lined into a double play to end the rally.

In the third, Carlos Rivera singled and Rosa laced a base-hit to right to move Rivera to third. Matt Webb provided a sacrifice fly to left to plate Rivera, tying the game at 2-2.

In the Eagle seventh, Achberger hit a would-be inning ending grounder to Porter at second base. However, the ball went under Porter's glove, allowing Langdon Potts to score the go-ahead run from third.

After Tusculum tied the game at 3-3 in the seventh on a sacrifice fly by Andrew Winslow, the Pioneers threaten to take the lead in the eighth. Rosa reached on an infield single on moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. After a strikeout, Carson-Newman head coach Tom Griffin elected to intentionally walk both Paul Finger and pinch-hitter Maikol Gonzalez to load the bases. With the bases juiced, Aaron Hudgins hit a liner that Langdon Potts snared to end the inning, keeping the game tied at 3-3.

Both teams could not dent the scoreboard until the Eagle 12th. Jason Gray led off with a walk while Derek Long, attempting to lay down a sacrifice bunt, reached base on a throwing error by the catcher Rosa, moving Gray all the way to third. Keafauver singled home Gray to break the tie. Long would score on a wild pitch and Cory McGinnis would double home a run to give the Eagles the 6-3 lead and go on to the eventual victory.

Kefauver led Carson-Newman offensively, going 2-for-6 with a run scored and two runs batted in. Rosa led Tusculum with a 4-for-6 performance, including a run scored and an RBI.

Eagle reliever Steve Cishek (2-4) gets the victory, working the last 1.2 innings of play. The loss was charged to Pioneer reliever Mat Galens (2-1).