C-N takes on no. 26 Columbus State (13-4) and Georgia College (10-4) Friday at 5 and 7 p.m. before playing no. 6 Armstrong Atlantic (8-4) and UNC Pembroke (8-6) Saturday at 2 and 4 p.m.
The Eagles have won seven consecutive games dating back to a Feb. 17 loss to Georgia College.
Kelli Hensley (Knoxville, Tenn.) is riding a 17-game hitting streak for the Eagles – the longest streak for Carson-Newman in the last four years. Hensley and Kelley lead an Eagle order that features six regulars who are batting .400 or better for the year.
Columbus State owns the all-time series lead with Carson-Newman 9-13 entering into the 23rd meeting between the two schools. The Cougars swept a doubleheader from the Eagles last year. Carson-Newman lost a 2-1 game to CSU that saw the Eagles leave 10 baserunners stranded and an 11-8 game that saw the Cougars rally from an 8-0 deficit in the final three innings.
The Cougars have won six straight games, but are 1-2 against SAC competition this year. They beat reigning titlist Tusculum 2-0, but dropped a 5-4 game to Wingate and a 4-2 decision to LMU. Kristen Carr and Morgan Staffins lead the lineup with 17 RBI. Carr has seven doubles and three home runs. The Cougars have clobbered 25 home runs as a team – the Eagles have surrendered two this year.
Carson-Newman split a doubleheader with Georgia College 10 days ago. The Eagles fell in extra innings 6-4 before rebounding for a 9-5 win in the nightcap. Kelley and Hensley each had three-hit days in game two of that twinbill for the Eagles.
Armstrong Atlantic boasts an All-American at shortstop and one of the more absurd players in the nation. Alexis Mercer is hitting .517 for the Pirates with six doubles and eight home runs. She's got 19 RBI and 49 total bases on the year.
The Pirates offense is scoring nearly seven runs per game on the back of Mercer and Lacye Walker – who also hits .517 and has four homers to go along with 14 RBI.
Ollivia McLemore leads the Pirates pitching staff with 45.2 innings pitched, 27 strikeouts and a .199 batting average against.
This will be the Eagles' sixth meeting all-time with Armstrong Atlantic and just the third in the regular season. The Pirates contributed handed the Eagles regional losses in 2006 and 2011. C-N defeated a then sixth-ranked Armstrong club in the Mid-South Classic in 2012 8-2 for the largest margin of victory by either team in the series' short history.
Carson-Newman will meet UNC Pembroke for the first time in school history in the regular season. The Eagles took three meetings in the NAIA District Playoffs in 1991-92 from UNCP before the Braves exacted a modicum of revenge a decade and a half later in 2008 with a 6-3 win over the Eagles in regionals.
The 2014 edition of the Braves has a potent order with six players hitting .300 or better; however, the pitching staff has allowed teams to hit .286. The Braves own a doubleheader sweep of Kutztown, who began the season ranked third in the nation. Wingate swept the Braves last time out 2-0 and 9-1.
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