JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Wrapping a season series, Carson-Newman (10-9) matches up with the Lee Flames (15-7) tomorrow afternoon at 2:00 p.m. at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex.
The Eagles are coming off an impressive offensive showing in the series finale with UVA Wise, scoring ten runs on a season-high 18 hits. It was the most hits in a game since the program recorded 19 against Limestone back on April 1st, 2022. C-N used the long ball to its advantage by launching three home runs in the series finale win over the Cavaliers, its most in a game this season.
This home matchup breaks up back-to-back conference road series. C-N is 9-5 at home this season and has won four of its last six.
Carson-Newman's early season magic number has been 6. The Eagles are 10-0 when leading after 6 innings and 0-9 when trailing.
Carson-Newman will be eyeing its first midweek win of the season. The Eagles are 0-3 in midweek contests this season, only one of which has come at home. Their last win in a midweek contest came against King last season on April 19th at 6-3 road win.
In the first meeting back with the Flames on Feb 20, Lee scored seven unanswered runs in the middle innings to knock off C-N 9-4 in Cleveland. C-N outhit Lee in the contest, but seven of those ten knocks came in the first four innings of the game. The win extended Lee's winning streak against Carson-Newman to three games and now have won five of the last six contests including the last two in Jefferson City. Four of those five losses have been decided by five runs or less. Overall, Carson-Newman trails the all-time series 15-13.
Nicholas Castellana continues to be an on-base machine for C-N. He has reached base safely in 13 straight games, longest such streak by any player for C-N this season. Five different hitters have drove in at least eight runs this season with James Denten leading the way with 18 RBI.
The Flames head to Mossy Creek on a three-game winning streak after sweeping Cedarville in a weekend series. The bats were hot for the Flames who rattled off 41 runs in the three wins. Overall, the club is 15-7 and 6-3 in the Gulf South Conference. Since defeating C-N back on Feb 20, Lee has gone 7-3.
The Gulf South's top scoring offense averages more than nine runs per game and does so by hitting the long ball. Lee has hit a league-high 36 homers in 22 games, the fourth-most dingers nationally. It's not just one hitter slugging for the Flames. Three hitters are tied for the team lead with five dingers. In total, ten different guys have hit multiple long balls this season.
It's not just the bats that have led to Lee's success this season. It has the third-highest fielding percentage in the league and has turned the fourth-most double plays. The pitching staff is allowing less than one hit per inning and sports a 4.40 ERA.
The contest can be seen on FloSports at cneagles.com/flobase with your subscription or by visiting cneagles.com/live for a free audio-only stream on the Eagle Sports Network.
