Carson-Newman Baseball Game Notes
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – It is going to take a sweep of the Catawba Indians (26-16, 19-7 South Atlantic Conference) and some help, but the Carson-Newman Eagles (21-24, 11-16 SAC) have a chance to step into the sixth position in the league and qualify for the conference tournament.
The two teams directly above the Eagles, Anderson and Newberry, face off for three games this weekend in Anderson, S.C. If either team is able to sweep the other and the Carson-Newman sweeps Catawba, the Eagles earn a place in the league tournament to be played next weekend.
"We need to keep everything simple as far as what we can control," head coach Tom Griffin said of his advice to his team. "You can't control what happens in the other games."
The Eagles are coming off of one of their best games of the season, a 10-3 win at Belmont Abbey on Wednesday. Ten different players tallied a hit in the contest as Carson-Newman tallied a hit in eight of the nine frames and scored in six stanzas.
"It's a great way to go into this series," Griffin said of how Wednesday's effort will help this weekend. "Our arms are healthy. We have a good group of [bull]pen guys. Offensively, it was good to have a day like we did."
Catawba has not lost a home series this season to a SAC opponent and the lone time the Indians didn't win a three-game series was falling in two out of three games at Lincoln Memorial on March 7 and March 8.
The Indians are second in the league with a .305 team batting average, but eighth in team earned run average with a 4.56 mark.
Senior Paul Kronenfeld is fourth in the league with a .373 batting average with six home runs, 29 RBI and 39 runs scored to pace the offense.
The Eagles will have to face the reigning National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association's Southeast Region Pitcher of the Week, Shaefer Shepard. The redshirt freshman is 6-1 this season with a SAC-best 1.35 ERA in 18 apperances.
"It's not going to be easy," Griffin said of the Indians. "They are good on the mound, defensively and offensively. They've got some veteran leadership. It's challenging, but I think our guys are excited about the last weekend series."
The two programs have met 80 times prior to this weekend's series with Catawba holding a 48-32 all-time advantage. The Indians swept the regular season meeting in 2013, but the Eagles won a 5-3 contest in the opening round of the South Atlantic Conference Tourmament 5-1. Brandon Roberts (Davie, Fla.) and Cody Fox (Seymour, Tenn.) each drove in a pair of runs in the game.
Game one of the series is Friday at 6 p.m. with a doubleheader scheduled for Saturday beginning at 1 p.m. All three games can be heard by visiting cneagles.com/live.
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