BY SPENCER CAMPBELL
BRISTOL HERALD COURIER
BRISTOL, Tenn. – The weather proved little trouble for the King College offense. When it rained, the Tornado poured in runs.
But then that rain settled into an annoying drizzle and King’s bats lost their way.
NCAA Division II member Carson-Newman defeated the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics’ Tornado 6-5 on Tuesday in a non-conference matchup at King College amidst an almost constant downpour. The game began with clear skies, but by the second inning the Tornado’s home park was on its way to a mud pit.
“It was just a sloppy day for baseball,” King coach Mark Conkin said. “An hour before game time we were blue skies, but they had to play in this stuff just like we did. It was a good ball game.”
Tuesday’s contest was a back-and-forth affair that saw the Eagles sprint to a big lead, only to have the Tornado narrow the gap. When Carson-Newman took its last sprint forward, King tried its best to follow. They just couldn’t find that last run.
The Eagles notched their first 3-run lead in the top of the second inning when senior Tyler Wynn drove a 3-run home run through the driving rain and over the left field fence.
King responded in the bottom of the frame, answering Carson-Newman’s smash with a little small-ball.
After a Danny Williamson walk and a Justin Reising single, Jon Jordan drilled a 2-run double down the third-base line, plating both runners. Wesley Lane brought Jordan home with a grounder to short, knotting the game at three.
When the Eagles tacked another three runs on the scoreboard in the third, the Tornado again responded by manufacturing runs. Back-to-back sacrifice flies by Ryan Kennedy and Bart Roark, respectively, in the fourth inning produced the game’s final margin.
King had chances to score the tying and winning runs, most notably in the seventh inning. A single and error had Tornados at first and second with only one out. But after Drew Trujillo struck out, Williamson was caught attempting to swipe third base, snuffing out the King rally.
“They came out and put three runs up and we came back and put three runs up and the conditions weren’t favorable for anybody, but you battle through it,” King third baseman Nick Belcher, who finished with two hits, said. “I think we left eight men on. That’s a chance to push a run or two across and come out with the ‘W’, but that’s just baseball and tomorrow’s a new day.”
Jordan led the Tornado, going 2-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored. Reising finishing with two hits, and made a diving catch in right field that limited the Eagles to three runs in the second inning.
After King scored its last runs in the fourth inning, the two teams’ bullpens took over the game. Carson-Newman used three relievers that combined to allow four hits and no runs in 5.1 innings of work.
King, on the other hand, relied on only one man to do the job – junior Jacob Snyder. After relieving starter Hunter Newby in the third innings, Snyder pitched 7.2 scoreless innings of five-hit ball, his longest outing of the season.
“I just focused on strikes, getting outs,” Snyder said. “Coach always says, ‘Pitch for contact,’ so that’s what I try to do. Outings like that flow pretty well. About the only thing I had to endure were the conditions out here; the mud was pretty bad.”
scampbell@bristolnews.com|(276) 645-2543
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