JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman baseball coach Tom Griffin unveiled the 2017 baseball schedule Friday afternoon as the Eagles will play 50 total games, 30 at home, including 14 out of 19 games in March, and travel 3,149 miles for 23 road affairs.
"We have more home games than we do on the road which I think anyone would rather have that," Griffin said. "I think it's an advantage to play at home and stay in your own bed. There's a comfort level. We have a very veteran club with a lot of guys returning so I don't think it matters as much. It's nice to have but if you have a younger club you definitely try to schedule more home games but the veteran club can handle anything."
Only three of the first 23 games of the season are conference games with a three-game set against Catawba on Feb. 24-25 on the road the lone time the Eagles play a league foe over the first five weeks of the year.
"The coaches in the conference came to a decision that we needed more games before we got into conference play," Griffin said. "I think we all agreed that with the parity and competition of the league, we need more games prior to it to learn our club. We know who the starting pitchers are, who the relievers are. We needed more games than one or two weekends to get that. It certainly helps all of us."
The midweek schedule features a home-and-home series with Limestone, Belmont Abbey, King (Tenn.) and Shorter. Bluefield State and Covenant will come to the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex and C-N will pay a visit to Lee.
For the second straight season, the Eagles will hit the road to face North Georgia for a three-game series beginning Feb. 3 at 2 p.m. The Nighthawks picked up a sweep in the series marking the first time since Feb. 11-13, 2005 that a nonconference team swept C-N in a three-game series when second-ranked Florida Southern did so.
Following a road outing to Limestone on Feb. 8, the Eagles open the doors of the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex with a three-game set against Virginia-Wise on Feb. 10-11. Last year the two teams were supposed to play three games but only officially finished one due to snow.
Carson-Newman packs its bags for a trip to Belmont Abbey on Valentine's Day before coming back for a four-game series against Northwood on Feb. 17-18. It is the second straight season that the Timberwolves will come to Mossy Creek as the Eagles won three out of four contests a season ago.
The Eagles play 24 South Atlantic Conference contests in 2017 and for the second season in-a-row, they will not play a pair of teams from the league. This year Coker and Tusculum are not on the conference slate. The Pioneers will make a trip to the SDBC for a Feb. 21 outing as the Eagles look to avenge a loss to TC that bumped C-N from the SAC Baseball Championships on May 1.
Conference play begins on Feb. 24 at 6 p.m. with a journey to face off against the four-time defending SAC regular season champions Catawba College Catawba Indians. Catawba took two out of three against the Eagles last season and handed C-N one of its two losses in the SAC Baseball Championships.
Griffin's group does not play a SAC game again until March 10. On Feb. 28 and March 1 the Eagles host King (Tenn.) and Bluefield State before playing host to Saginaw Valley State for a four-game series on March 3-5. It will be the first time the Eagles will play the Cardinals on the diamond.
After a journey to Cleveland, Tenn. to Lee on March 7, the Eagles play their first home conference game of the year on March 10 as part of a three-game weekend against Anderson (S.C.). C-N won two out of three against the Trojans in 2015.
Limestone visits the SDBC on March 14 before C-N travels to Newberry on St. Patrick's Day to start a three-game series with the Wolves. Carson-Newman won three out of four against Newberry in 2015 including a 3-0 decision in the SAC Baseball Championships.
Seven of the next eight games are at home to end March and start April beginning with Belmont Abbey on March 21. Brevard and Lenoir-Rhyne are the two conference series on March 24-25 and March 31 and April 1 respectively. The lone road game in that span is when Shorter welcomes the Carson-Newman on March 28.
Seven of the final 12 games of the season are on the road with road series against Lincoln Memorial on April 7-8 and Mars Hill on April 21-22 in the mix. The final home SAC series of the season is Wingate on April 14-15 with the final home game of any kind coming on April 18 when Covenant shows up for a 3 p.m. first pitch.
For the second straight season the top eight teams in the league will converge upon Smokies Stadium in Kodak, Tenn. for the SAC Baseball Championships that begin on April 27 and conclude on May 1.
"It was second to none," Griffin said of the experience a season ago. "It was outstanding because it was an advantage for us. We didn't have to pay as much money so we are very happy. I don't know if a team that has to come over and stay feels the same way. As far as an atmosphere, I thought it was tremendous."
Fans can enjoy baseball all season long on the Eagle Sports Network with coverage beginning 10 minutes prior to the first pitch of every contest on cneagles.com/live. Road games will feature an audio stream while home games will have a high definition video stream accompany the radio call.
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