JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (12-12, 7-5 SAC) looks to continue its home series success when it faces the top club in the South Atlantic Conference in Catawba (20-7, 9-3 SAC), this weekend at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex.
Despite just a 9-7 record at home, C-N has won nine straight home series dating back to the 2023 season. It is the longest such streak in program history. The Eagles have three sweeps during this incredible run at home and have won four home series so far this season. Overall, C-N is 26-12 at home the past two seasons.
"Looking forward to the challenge against a phenomenal and well-coached team," Carson-Newman head coach Tom Griffin said. "There is a lot of good coaches and Jim Gantt is one of the great ones. He is fantastic. He does it the right way and his kids play the game the right way. I'm looking forward to that challenge."
With 12 wins so far in 2024, Griffin brings his career total to 697 entering this weekend series with Catawba. The skipper has 513 wins in his Carson-Newman career, securing win 500 at the end of the regular season last year. His career winning percentage is .564 with the Eagles.
The Indians are led by Jim Gantt who is in his 28th season as their head coach. The skipper has 964 career victories all with the Indians and a .664 winning percentage. Excluding the shortened Covid season, Gantt has led his team to at least 22 wins every single year, with 23 30 plus win campaigns. He has not had a losing season as a head coach.
This matchup features the two-longest tenured coaches in the SAC. Griffin and Gantt have combined to coach 2,728 games over the course of 55 combined seasons. Of those games played, the two have won a combined 1,661 of them.
Carson-Newman and Catawba also had a player recognized by the conference earlier this week. In a three-game series with Emory & Henry last week, Harrison Travis (Soddy Daisy, Tenn.) had one of the best hitting performances in school history to earn SAC Player of the Week. He became the first player in recorded history at Carson-Newman to hit three home runs in one game by doing so in the series opener against Emory & Henry, hitting all three in his first three at bats of the game. He finished the weekend with eight hits in 13 attempts and hit five home runs to drive in seven runs. Travis hit a home run in all three games of the series becoming the first hitter since Tyler Thompson in 2018 to homer in three straight games. For Catawba, Hayden Simmerson was named Pitcher of the Week after the freshman right-hander fanned 11 batters in five shutout innings of relief across two appearances helping the team go 4-0.
Carson-Newman is set to square off with Catawba in a series that has featured 111 meetings between the two programs. C-N will welcome the Indians to the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex for the first time since 2018. That season, the Eagles were able to win one of the three games in the series. Catawba leads the all-time tally 68-45 and has won eight of the last ten meetings. C-N will eye its first series win since taking two of three in Jefferson City nine seasons ago.
Catawba heads to Mossy Creek as the number one team in the South Atlantic Conference. After dropping two of its first three league games, the Indians have rattled off nine league wins in their last ten, including six in a row. It's a 9-3 record for Catawba in league play with a 20-7 overall record, sitting two games ahead of the Eagles in the standings.
The group has been stellar defensively throughout the year, leading the conference with 32 double plays and the fourth highest fielding percentage just under .970. The pitching staff has faired well through 27 games, posting the lowest WHIP and hits per nine innings both marks of which are in the top 40 nationally. As a staff, the team ERA is 4.71, second best in the league.
Offensively, the Indians have had plenty of success. The third best scoring offense in the SAC has a team batting average of .318, recording the second-most hits while leading the league in triples and being second in doubles. The offense has scored double-digits 12 times this year and has done so seven times in the last nine games. Bo Rusher and Logan Rogers are both having excellent seasons, hitting above .320 and are tied for the team lead with seven home runs apiece.
The series is scheduled to start Saturday at 2:00 p.m. and wrap up with a doubleheader on Sunday starting at noon. All three contests 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.
