JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman is looking to bounce back and win a fifth consecutive nonconference game when Shorter stops by Mossy Creek for a 3 p.m. game at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex Tuesday afternoon.
Over the weekend, Carson-Newman (19-20) was swept in a South Atlantic Conference road series for the third time in 2017 looking to right the ship against a Shorter (19-18) that is scuffling over the last several weeks.
The Eagles and the Hawks are meeting for the sixth time since the first outing in 2014 and the second this season as C-N improved to 4-1 in the series with an 11-4 triumph on March 29 in Rome, Ga.
Griffin's team cranked out 15 hits, the second-most in 2017 as six pitchers limited the chances for Shorter in a game that extended thew winning streak to six games. It snapped an eight-game losing streak on the road that dated back to a win at Limestone on Feb. 8 that matched the longest skid for C-N in the Division II era with the 1994 club.
Ryan Addington (Cincinnati, Ohio) ended the day by going 4-for-5 with three runs scored for his second straight four-hit game. Cade Snapp (Seymour, Tenn.) did not record a hit on the day by drove in four runs. Paul Kirby (Goodlettsville, Tenn.) went 2-for-5 with a pair of RBIs and two runs scored. Trever Lee (Garner, N.C.) notched the first four-hit day of his career going 4-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored.
Drew Eller (Melbourne, Fla.) picked up his first career win tossing a scoreless inning of relief. Jordan Davis (Maryville, Tenn.) tossed the final three innings of the game to earn his first career save striking out four allowing two hits, three walks and an earned run.
Shorter was led by Will Winslow who went 3-for-5 with a run scored and Isaiah Maddela notched two hits and two runs knocked in while using eight different hurlers
In the only meeting at Mossy Creek in the history of the series, the Eagles held an 8-1 advantage entering the seventh inning before the Hawks scored three in the seventh, one in the eighth and fourth in the ninth to pull off the comeback win on April 6, 2016. A three-run home run by Ty Cherry with two outs in the ninth was the final blow in the win. Shorter stranded 13 runners on base but outhit Carson-Newman 12-9 on the day as Tyler Cates tossed three scoreless innings of relief.
Shorter enters the affair 3-8 in its last 11 games and 6-13 since starting the year 13-5 after being swept by 14th-ranked Delta State over the weekend in a battle that featured the top scoring offense in the Gulf South and Shorter's third-ranked run-producing unit. The club is tied for the team lead in home runs hit with 38 while leading the conference and ranking 19th nationally with 166 walks taken on the year.
The Hawks are the worst defensive club in the GSC having committed 80 errors as a team in 2017 and has a string of nine straight games with a miscue. There have been two outings this season that Shorter has recorded six errors in one game, Feb. 25 against North Alabama and March 8 versus Saginaw Valley State.
Freshman Bailey Gerstner is second in the conference in batting average posting a .417 mark in his rookie season and has recorded two hits in each of his last three games. With a .504 on-base percentage, Gerstner is second in the GSC in getting on the base paths despite having a total of four extra-base hits this year.
Wall-to-wall coverage will be available on cneagles.com/live as the Eagle Sports Network provides the broadcast in video and audio formats starting 15 minutes before the first toss.
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