JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Young Harris College set season highs in hits (16) and runs (14) as the Mountain Lions recorded a 14-1 non-conference baseball victory in seven innings over Carson-Newman University Tuesday (March 11) afternoon at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex.
The Mountain Lions improved to 10-13 as they snapped their three-game losing streak while the Eagles fell to 12-12. Young Harris steps back into Peach Belt Conference action Saturday (March 15) with a 1 p.m. doubleheader at Zell B. Miller Field against No. 12 University of South Carolina Aiken.
Young Harris scored in every inning but the second and fifth innings. Leading the way for the Mountain Lions was catcher Spencer Thomas who set or tied three college records (four-year era). Thomas went 5-for-5 with three doubles and drove in two runs. Thomas set the college record for runs scored with five and tied the college marks for hits in a game (five) and doubles in a game (three).
Jack Morrow and Adam Moore gave the Mountain Lions a 2-0 lead in the first inning on their RBI singles off Carson-Newman starter Clayton Eames (1-3). Young Harris added two more runs in the third on a RBI single by Zach Wall and a sacrifice fly by Dom Wyshinski.
The Mountain Lions added three runs in the fourth and two more in the sixth inning to open up a 9-0 lead. Morrow drove in a run in the fourth on a fielder's choice and Tom Valichka added a run-scoring double down the left field line. Valichka accounted for the sixth-inning runs with his two-run homer to left field. It was Valichka's second long ball of the season.
Young Harris closed out the scoring with a four-run seventh. Thomas drove in two runs with a single to left and Brett Westmoreland added a pinch-hit RBI single.
Travis Donahoo (1-0) earned the complete-game victory – the first of the season for Young Harris - as he scattered five hits and struck out four for the Mountain Lions. The only run he surrendered came in the seventh inning.
Valichka, Wyshinski and Trey Rogers added two hits each while Valichka led Young Harris with three RBI. Morrow and Moore each drove in two apiece.
