Carson-Newman Baseball Game Notes
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman ventures to King (Tenn.) for its final road non-conference road trip of the 2016 regular season Tuesday afternoon at 3 p.m. at King Baseball Field.
The Eagles (24-16) are looking for just their second road non-conference victory this season holding a mark of 1-5 this season in such games with the lone win coming on Feb. 10 at Shorter, a 6-3 decision.
Carson-Newman and the Tornado (14-26) will be on the diamond for the 22nd time with C-N holding the all-time series history record at 15-6 including a 9-4 record since 2006, Griffin's first season as head coach.
C-N has never lost in Bristol, Tenn. against King in the five prior meetings at King Baseball Field. The first game the Tornado played in the facility was on Feb. 23, 2002 as it sits on seven acres of land on the west side of campus on mirage Bermuda grass.
Last week, the Eagles used a walk-off single to left-center field by Jimmy Rice to win 11-10 at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex. Carson-Newman scored the first eight runs of the game before King unleashed an eight-spot in the fourth. The Tornado scored two runs in the top of the ninth inning to tie the score at 10.
The Tornado have lost four straight games after being swept by Mount Olive in Conference Carolinas play over the weekend. Ryan Whitt belted four home runs on Saturday during a doubleheader inlcuding three bombs in the series finale.
The offense is hitting its stride in the month of April having hit .356 as a unit in seven games during the month.
The pitching, however, is not faring well having piled up a team earned run average of 8.95 while giving up five home runs. At home, the group has a team ERA of 5.53 compared to a 9.90 clip in road affairs.
Senior catcher Mark Hencken is seventh in the nation in doubles with 17 while compiling a .342 batting average. Whitt is hitting .407 on the season placing 38th in the country with 57 total hits. In seven April games, he is hitting .545 with five roundtrippers and 12 of his 39 RBIs on the year in April.
Junior righty Andrew Phemister is third in Division II in pitching appearances with 22 on the year but is 1-1 with an 8.68 ERA.
Eric Cain will be on the microphone for the Eagle Sports Network beginning at 2:50 p.m. on cneagles.com/live with an audio broadcast with play-by-play coverage following the pregame show.
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