JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – After rain shuffled the schedule, Carson-Newman will make the trip to Abbey Yard on Wednesday for a 3 p.m. first pitch against No. 16 Belmont Abbey.
Wednesday's game will be the fourth time in the last five meetings that Belmont Abbey enters as a ranked team. C-N won the first such effort in the opening game of a twin-bill on March 15 against the 10th-ranked Crusaders 7-3 before falling 5-3 in the night cap. On Valentine's Day 2017, 19th-ranked Belmont Abbey held serve at home with a 6-4 victory at Abbey Yard.
The Eagles notched just one hit in the first six innings falling behind 5-0 before a late rally fell short in a 6-4 loss as it snapped a string of four straight wins at Abbey Yard for Griffin's group. The Eagles mustered three hits on the day and drew three walks while striking out 11 times in the game.
Colin Rosenbaum finished the afternoon by going 4-for-5 while Kayden Krause notched two hits in four times at the plate. Troy Herterick (1-0) earned the win going six innings allowing one earned run on one hit and one walk while punching out seven.
In the other meeting between the two schools in 2017, C-N used eight pitches to pick up a 4-3 triumph. Raunel Perez worked 1 1/3 innings of scoreless baseball to get the win and improve to 1-1 while Hunter Dodson struck out two batters in the ninth to earn his first career save.
Cade Snapp and Paul Kirby each tallied two hits on the day as Snapp and Jimmy Rice drove in two runs apiece for the Eagles on the afternoon.
Rosenbaum notched two hits and reached base safely three times on the afternoon as the Crusaders notched nine hits and stranded six base runners.
Belmont Abbey had won 11 straight games entering March but has gone 4-3 during the third month of the year. The Crusaders are coming off of a series victory at sixth-ranked Mount Olive where it outscored the Trojans 32-18.
Offensively the team continues to be one of the best in the country as it leads Division II in total hits (249), doubles (61) while ranking ninth in scoring at nine runs per game. Luke Cureton and Thomas Yoder lead the team and are ninth in America in RBIs on the year with 25 each. Cureton has 14 doubles to lead the nation.
In the field the Crusaders are eighth in Division II in fielding percentage with a .980 clip while holding a team ERA of 4.38. The hurlers are walking nearly five men per game to rank in the bottom third in the country.
Sam Luchansky has been one of the most frequent pitchers used by any team having pitched in 12 games while recording a 4-0 record with a 4.15 ERA and 22 punch outs in 21 2/3 innings pitched. The Eagles saw him twice in 2017 as the righty retired four batters and allowed two earned runs on three hits and a home run across the two outings.
Belmont Abbey will provide live stats while @CNathletics on Twitter will have the latest updates regarding the game.
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