Eagles roll to Belmont Abbey for doubleheader

Eagles roll to Belmont Abbey for doubleheader

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (16-22) faced off with Belmont Abbey (24-9-1-) nearly one month ago to the day.  In that meeting at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex, the Crusaders came away with a 5-2 win after the Eagles outhit them 10-7. 

Carson-Newman will try to put together a complete game against BAC Tuesday at 1 p.m. with a doubleheader against the Crusaders. 

"This is very challenging because they're really good, plus they are playing well," C-N head coach Tom Griffin said. "They'll playing for a potential regional bid, so playing that type of team heading into our final weekend of regular season conference play is just tremendous."

The Crusaders are receiving votes in the latest NCBWA poll and are ranked 21st in the latest Collegiate Baseball poll.  Belmont Abbey comes in seventh in the southeast region rankings. 

Carson-Newman is 5-5 against ranked teams this year. 

In the first meeting between the schools, C-N left runner's stranded in every inning but the eighth. 

Cody Fox led C-N offensively with three hits in his four at bats.  Bryan Everhart and Peter Rajkovich picked up RBIs for the Eagles.

Dustin Dunagan picked up the loss on the hill while Ryan Allen (1-1) picked up the win after firing five innings of one-run ball.  

Even though he was shackled with the loss, Dunagan hurled six strikeouts to two walks in his four complete innings. 

Kennan Stanley proved to be the biggest thorn in the Eagles side in the first meeting, going three-of-four at the dish with four RBI. 

Carson-Newman enters the doubleheader following a conference series win over Newberry. 

"(The series win over Newberry) has given us a huge lift." Griffin said. "It gave us some confidence and let us know what we are capable of doing.  We're a lot more optimistic than we were." 

First pitch Tuesday is set for 1 p.m. 

-CN-