Carson-Newman Baseball Game Notes
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman plays a four-game series for the first time since 2011 as Northwood (Mich.) comes to the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex Friday and Saturday for a pair of doubleheaders slated for noon first pitches.
The last four-game series the Eagles (2-4) played in was the season opener at Augusta State on Feb. 5-6, 2011 as the two programs each won twice. The weekend will be the first four-game set in Jefferson City since Feb. 22-24, 2002 when C-N hosted Northern Kentucky University winning three of the four contests.
"I think what we are hoping to accomplish with this weekend and even next weekend is to utilize as many pitchers as we can," Carson-Newman coach Tom Griffin said. "We have some guys who have gotten no action yet. We've got to get them work. I know in the course of the game if your starter is doing well typically you try to ride that as long as you can. We really have to do a good job as a staff of getting guys in there."
Carson-Newman and Northwood will meet for the first time ever this weekend as the Timberwolves will be the fourth team from the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference that the Eagles have faced joining Ashland, Grand Valley State and Tiffin.
Overall, C-N is 7-2 against teams from the GLIAC with the most recent contest coming on Feb. 11, 2011 in Greenwood, S.C. where No. 25 Grand Valley St. earned a 6-4 victory.
The last three-game series against a GLIAC group came on March 6-7, 2010 when C-N swept Tiffin at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex 17-15, 13-3 and 11-6. Jeff Lockwood had a massive series going 8-for-13 on the weekend with seven RBIs.
Northwood begins its season Feb. 18 at Lee as the Timberwolves begin the season with 18 games away from home including a 10 games at the Russ Matt Invitational in Davenport, Fla. prior to their first home contest of the season on March 25 against Findlay
Coming off of its regular-season finish in GLIAC history with a 28-23 (20-12) record and a third-place conclusion, Northwood was picked third in the North Division in the preseason coaches' poll.
At the plate, Northwood posted 23 games out of 51 with at least 10 hits but the pitching staff yieleded 28 contests with double-digit hits allowed.
The Timberwolves return eight of the team's top 10 hitters led by second-team All-GLIAC shortstop Dustin Lee. The senior led the team with 54 hits and 52 runs scored while piling up a .457 on-base percentage.
Catcher Grant Bridgewater led the team with a .398 batting average and a .471 on-base percentage doing so in just 88 at-bats.
On the mound, Alex Lewandowski tied the school record in 2015 with seven wins while tallying a 3.52 earned run average in 12 starts. The junior right-hander was lights out at home with a 1.57 ERA at home compared to an ERA of 5.00 on the road where he gave up 31 hits in 27 innings.
Junior Logan Meadors posted a 4-5 record with a 3.71 ERA in 10 starts in 2015. The right-hander had similar road and away splits as Lewandowski notching a 1.42 ERA at home compared to a 5.40 ERA in road games during 2015.
The first game of each day will be a seven inning game while the second game will be a nine inning contests. Each outing will be broadcast on cneagles.com/live with audio and video streams beginning 10 minutes prior to first pitch.
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