JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Coming off of a series victory against Mars Hill, Carson-Newman continues its nine-game homestand on Wednesday at 2 p.m. hosting Tusculum at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex in the second meeting this year with the Pioneers.
The Eagles' pitching staff produced one of its best weekends of the year getting two quality starts after having one in the first 16 games of the year while the bullpen allowed two earned runs over 15 2/3 innings punching out 26 batters getting two of the victories. Overall, the bullpen's ERA has dipped to 5.16 for the year.
One of the biggest reasons the pitching staff was great over the weekend was handling base runners. The Lions saw their lead-off hitters reach at a .438 clip but they only went 7-for-52, .135, with runners on base. For the season, the Orange and Blue has allowed opponents lead-off hitters to reach at a .463 clip while holding opposing bats to a .253 margin with runners aboard.
Carson-Newman (8-11) and Tusculum (13-4) are meeting for the 109th time since the 1990 season with the Eagles gripping onto a 55-53 overall edge with the teams even at 23 in games played at Mossy Creek. The Pioneers have won four straight at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex since a 5-3 C-N victory on April 11, 2021. Coach Tom Griffin's team scored four runs in the first inning to win the game. Henry Jackson led the C-N offense going 2-for-4 with two runs scored while Micah Genter posted a pair of knocks and reached base safely in all of his three trips to the plate.
When the teams met on Feb. 8 at Pioneer Park, Tusculum cranked two home runs and tallied five extra-base hits to hand Carson-Newman a 10-4 loss. Only five of Carson-Newman's 10 runs allowed were earned runs. Tyler Ranel reached base five times finishing a homer shy of the cycle going 4-for-5 with two RBIs and two runs scored.
After losing its first two games of the year, the Pioneers have won 13 of their last 15 games taking two out of three against UVA Wise in the opening league series and coming off of a sweep against Coker. Wednesday will be the first time that the group has to travel since opening the year in Florida marking 33 days since the unit played anywhere other than Pioneer Park.
The biggest reason for the team's success has been the program's pitching staff ranking second in the conference with a 3.77 team ERA giving up a league-low five home runs having not given one up since Feb. 24, a span of six games. Tusculum has allowed more than five runs three times this season losing each of those contests.
Coach Brandon Steele has used 11 pitchers this year with each of the top four in terms of innings pitched posting an ERA south of 3.75 for the campaign. Billy Quinn is the most frequent bullpen arm tossing 16 innings tallying a 2.81 ERA.
At the plate, the Pioneers are averaging over eight runs per game but have not scored more than six in any of the last five posting a total of 23 runs over that timeframe. Fifty of the team's 141 runs for the year were scored in a three-game series with Davis & Elkins.
Christian Ortega is tied for the league lead with a .472 batting average with two homers and 16 RBIs for the season. He has hits in 13 of the 16 games this season with seven multi-hit games being the league leader in on-base percentage reaching at a .574 clip drawing a dozen walks.
The lineup hit 13 homers in the first 12 games of the year but have not clubbed one over the past five outings since hitting two against UVA Wise on Feb. 26 in game one of the twin bill.
Wednesday's game will air on the Eagle Sports Network with video available on FloSports with a paid subscription and an audio-only stream on cneagles.com/live.
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