Carson-Newman Baseball Game Notes
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – The Carson-Newman Eagles (9-11, 6-9 South Atlantic Conference) travel to the Tar Heel State to take on the Mars Hill Lions (4-12, 1-8 SAC) for a three-game series beginning with a doubleheader Saturday beginning and noon and concluding Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m.
Head coach Tom Griffin's group played its 11th one-run game of the year with a 4-7 in those contests this season after going 7-5 in 12 one-run affairs in 2014.
"There's always stress when you're having a streak we're having," Griffin said. "We're playing good enough baseball to be in games. One-run games you're right there. We looked at some teams in our conference, Tusculum and [Lincoln Memorial]. They are on eight and nine-game winning streaks."
Part of the issue for Carson-Newman in the recent stretch is the bullpen's lack of location as Eagle relievers have issued 22 walks in 20.1 innings pitched in March after yielding just 10 bases on balls in 28.2 innings pitched in the month of February.
"We trust the players," Griffin said. "In the locker room and on gamedays, the game is yours. You do what you have to do. You figure that out. Practices are for the coaches and that's where we have to work. At this point, they know what they have to do and I think they believe in themselves and they know what they have to do."
Mars Hill won its first game in league play in its last season at Brevard winning 11-6 on March 7 after losing its first seven conference games. The Eagles are looking to bust out of their slump on the road.
"The key we told our players is that it's all about communication," Griffin said. "We want them to be able to communicate and that's what they've done. As far as what we've got to do to get ready for games on a daily basis, we have to keep doing that. We believe also that it goes down to the whole faith process. We want to look for a little trinket or a gadget to get us out of it and it really comes down to God to know that there is a purpose behind it."
The Lions have played fewer games than anyone in the conference this year and have scored the fewest runs, 87, in the league despite being the hardest team to strike out as they've been punched out 101 times on the year.
Offensively, Mars Hill is in the middle of the pack in most categories, but second in the league with 30 stolen bases.
Carson-Newman has controlled the all-time series winning 51 of the 70 games played all-time, but Mars Hill took two out of three games at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex in 2014. The Lions won the final two games of the series after the Eagles won 11-3 on March 7. Outfielder Cody Fox (Seymour, Tenn.) hit a home run for the fourth straight game and Carson-Newman scored seven runs in the fifth inning to take a game one victory.
Stay tuned to cneagles.com and @CNathletics on Twitter for this weekend's broadcast schedule from Mars Hill.
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