Carson-Newman Baseball Game Notes
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – After not hosting a four-game series at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex since 2002, the Eagles welcome McKendree to the ball park for a second consecutive four-game set beginning Friday at 2 p.m. at Mossy Creek. The second and third games of the series will begin Saturday at noon while the series finale is slated for Sunday at 1 p.m.
The Eagles (5-5) have won five of their last six games and this weekend is the final weekend of play before South Atlantic Conference play begins next Friday at Brevard.
"Consistency is the No. 1 thing and understand the process of each day of what we are trying to accomplish that day," Carson-Newman coach Tom Griffin said. "What our purpose is and then worrying about the next pitch. After that pitch, put it aside and worry about the next pitch. We want to keep it in simple terms and for us to look too far ahead would go outside of what we're trying to do as a team."
For the second consecutive week, Carson-Newman will host a team that it has never faced in Great Lakes Valley Conference foe McKendree (0-3) as the Eagles continue a stretch of 10-straight home games.
The Bearcats are the fourth GLVC that the Eagles have faced since 1990 joining Southern Indiana, Bellarmine and St. Joseph's with C-N's record against that trio 10-6.
The last time that Carson-Newman squared off against a team from the GLVC came on Feb. 26, 2005 when the Eagles hosted Bellarmine for a doubleheader that they would win 9-6 and 6-4. The day before C-N was edged by St. Joseph's 2-1.
McKendree University is a private liberal arts college located in Lebannon, Ill. and is the oldest college in the state founded in 1828. The school's athletic programs made the transition from NAIA to Division II membership in July 2013.
The Bearcats' basketball program is coached by Harry Statham who in his 50th season has tallied 1,100 wins at McKendree passing former University of Tennessee women's basketball coach Pat Summitt for the most all-time wins by a men's or women's college basketball coach at any level.
The GLVC preseason coaches' poll pinned McKendree for a seventh place finish in the East Division out of eight teams after going 9-39 (8-28 GLVC) in 2015.
Jim Boehne enters his 19th season holding the school-record for wins with 574 during his tenure. Boehne's group returns five starters in the field and four starters returning from the 2015 rotation.
In their opening series of 2016, the Bearcats were swept at 15th-ranked Missouri Southern State giving up 35 runs during the series and plating just 10 runs while hitting .208.
Sophomore outfielder Brad Groleau leads the list of returning position players after being a second-team All-GLVC pick in 2015 with a team-highs in .344 batting average, three home runs and 23 RBIs.
Senior left-hander Sam Lidisky, a three-year starter, leads the pitching rotation after tallying three wins and five complete games with a 4.25 ERA as a junior. Lidisky gave up seven earned runs in three innings in his first outing of 2016.
Each game over the weekend will have a video and audio stream available beginning 10 minutes prior to first pitch with the pregame show on the Eagle Sports Network.
- CN -
