JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Prior to its final South Atlantic Conference regular season series of 2017, Carson-Newman takes on Covenant Tuesday evening at Smokies Stadium and King at 3 p.m. Wednesday at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex.
Carson-Newman (23-20) and Covenant (13-22) are meeting the first time as the Eagles are challenging a team from Division III for the first time since visiting Maryville on March 6, 2012. Brandon Timmerman worked 7 1/3 innings allowing one earned run on seven hits. Kyle Koeneman went 2-for-5 while picking up the save on the rubber in an inning of work stranding a pair of runners on the bases.
The Eagles have played at Smokies Stadium 10 times prior to Tuesday's affair playing each regular season during a stretch from 2009-2014 while holding a 4-6 record. The first game the Eagles played in Kodak was on April 5, 2009 when C-N defeated Brevard 7-5. Corey Lamson went 3-for-4 with two runs scored to lead the offense while Robby Thigpen earned the win to improve to 3-1 on the year.
The college is located in Lookout Mountain, Ga., a town with a population of 1,602. It was founded in 1955 as a Private Liberal Arts College and is affiliated with Presbyterian Church in America.
Covenant plays in the USA South Athletic Conference, the same league as Maryville, and has a 6-12 record to sit two games above the cellar. LaGrange is the top team in the league ranking fourth nationally in the coaches' poll and holding a 35-4 overall record this season.
Doug Simons is the skipper entering his 11th season after spending 18 seasons a professional player. A ninth-round pick of the Minnesota Twins out of Pepperdine in 1988, Simons pitched in 67 Major League games in 1991-92 with the New York Mets and the Montreal Expos.
The Scots have lost five of their last six games and holds a 3-14 record away from home this season. An 11-10, 10-inning victory at Piedmont on April 8 is the most recent triumph overall and on the road. A fielding error with two outs in top of the 10th sealed the triumph.
The road woes have seen Covenant roughly two runs fewer as an offense at 4.4 on the year while hitting .261 as a unit versus a .311 clip at home. The hurlers have registered a 7.11 combined earned run average away from the friendly confines punching out 25 fewer opponents in that stretch.
On the mound, the pitching staff has posted 5.24 walks per nine innings ranking 321st out of 378 schools in Division III in that category while fanning 5.7 per nine frames. The Scots have an ERA of 6.12, 274th nationally, and a team fielding percentage of .946, 264th in the country.
Covenant has cranked out 328 hits as a team ranking 28th in the nation while averaging only 5.5 runs per game. Led by Luke Harvey's 19th stolen bases, 10th in D3, the Scots have posted 73 steals, eighth in the country.
In a series that dates back to 1990, Carson-Newman holds the lead 18-7 entering the 26th all-time affair with wins in each of the last five. The two programs will meet for the eighth consecutive season in a home-and-home series after asix-year hiatus.
On April 4, the Eagles picked up a 1-0 win in their lone shutout of the year winning for the eighth straight outing at King Baseball Field. In the top of the ninth inning, pinch-hitter Brendan Campbell trickled a single into right field on a 3-2 pitch to plate Jordan Hinshaw who slid in just before the tag to put the Eagles on top 1-0.
The two clubs combined to record a total of 12 hits as the visitors outhit King 7-5 as each hit for the Tornado's lineup came from the top five spots in the order. Jones and Joe Selitto (Newton, N.J.) were the only players in the game with multiple hits as each went 2-for-3.
The Tornado are seeking their first win at Mossy Creek since a 12-8 win on Feb. 20, 2013 when Hunter Smith went 3-for-4 with three RBIs and Tyler Gaby notched four runs knocked in and three hits for King.
The Eagles have posted double-digit run efforts against the Tornado 10 times in the first 25 meetings including in each game in 2016 despite winning by a total of three runs. In five consecutive outings from 1992 to 2003, C-N registered no fewer than 13 runs averaging 17.8 in that span.
In the most recent game at the SDBC, Jimmy Rice hit a 0-2 pitch over a drawn-in outfield in left field to score Trever Lee and give Carson-Newman an 11-10 walk-off win over the Tornado. The Eagles outhit the Tornado 17-15 as six separate players had multi-hit affairs including four players, Addington, Rice, Roberts and Lee, with three hits.
King is off to a 7-5 start in April as the pitching staff continues to improve shrinking a team ERA from 7.24 after the first month to 4.50 through the last 12 games. Conversely the offense has gone from a .312 batting average down to a .278 tally and about four runs per game.
Coach Blaine Brown's team has played nine games against South Atlantic Conference opponents posting a 4-5 record with losses in three straight games since beating Mars Hill 13-5 on March 20.
The Tornado have committed an error in six consecutive games notching a total of 13 miscues in that sequence. With a .953 fielding percentage, the club is 173rd in the nation.
Ranking 28th nationally with 33 sacrifice bunts and 48th in sacrifice flies with 18, King embraces small ball having just 19 home runs on the year and swiping 54 bags.
Both games will feature complimentary audio and video streams on cneagles.com/live as the Eagle Sports Network hits the airwaves starting 15 minutes before the first toss.
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