Carson-Newman Baseball Game Notes
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Looking to bounce back from a 9-8 loss to Shorter on Wednesday, Carson-Newman travels to Anderson (S.C.) for a three-game series beginning Friday evening at 6 p.m. and wrapping the series up Saturday at 1 p.m. with a doubleheader.
"[We need to] play to our capabilities, handle our adversity, play with passion and enthusiasm and play with a good attitude," Carson-Newman coach Tom Griffin said. "Things that we can control to the best of our ability is all we can worry about. We don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves and just control the things we can control. Yesterday was one of those days that happened. You quickly have to forget it."
The two programs have met 23 times over the past decade when the series first began as the Eagles hold a 17-6 advantage.
Since Anderson (16-22, 7-8) became a full-time member of the SAC prior to the start of the 2011 baseball season, C-N has won three of the five three-game series. Anderson captured two out of three games during each of the 2013 and 2014 campaigns as the Trojans have won five of the last nine contests.
The 2015 series was slated to be hosted by C-N (22-15, 8-7) but weather pushed the series to the Palmetto State where the Eagles took the first two games of the series before falling 5-1 in the finale.
If the Eagles sweep the slate, Carson-Newman would guarantee itself a winning road record in league play since 2011 when it went 10-5. 2011 is also the last season that the Eagles were above .500 in SAC play (15-12).
Anderson has won each of its last two SAC series winning two out of three games against Mars Hill and Brevard and owns a 9-12 record in home games playing its final home series of the year.
In 15 league games this season, the Trojans have allowed at least 10 runs in seven contests as the pitching staff has given up a total of 353 runs overall, the most in the league, and 144 runs in league play, the second most behind Brevard as the Tornados have played three more games.
The pitching staff allows just under 13 hits per game in 2016 ranking 232nd out of 254 teams and 10th in the league in that category. With a team earned run average of 7.33, Anderson ranks 218th in the country.
Offensively, Anderson ranks 18th nationally with 269 total runs scored as only league-leading Catawba has scored more runs than the Trojans' 133 in SAC action.
Overall coach Joe Miller's group ranks 20th in the country in hits (385), 24th in doubles (75), 25th in walks (154) and 32nd in home runs (34).
Senior second-team All-SAC pick Steven Cooper leads the league in on-base percentage with a .534 clip ranking third nationally in walks (36), seventh in doubles (16) and 25th in runs scored (40).
All three games will be available with an audio stream by visiting cneagles.com/live 10 minutes prior to the first pitch of each as the Eagle Sports Network will provide pregame coverage before the play-by-play action.
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