JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (15-5) has six games left before it opens up conference play in a week. The Eagles welcome in GRU Augusta (11-14) for a noon doubleheader at The Vick Saturday before hitting the road for a 1 p.m. twin bill at Bellarmine (7-5) in Louisville Monday.
The Eagles are coming into the weekend off a doubleheader sweep of a 10-5 Concord club that saw Brittany Hefner (Talbott, Tenn.) blast out her first two home runs of her senior campaign.
Kelli Hensley (Knoxville, Tenn.) wrapped out five hits in that doubleheader. She has ten multi-hit games this season and leads the South Atlantic Conference in batting average with a .486 tally. Hensley has a base hit in 23 of the Eagles' last 24 games.
Sara Kelley (Ooltewah, Tenn.) leads the SAC in RBI with 27.
GRU Augusta is coming in off a doubleheader sweep of Mount Olive. The Jaguars gave a nationally ranked Anderson club everything it could handle two weeks ago losing 11-10 and 7-5 in a doubleheader.
The Eagles will be looking for their first win over a Peachbelt school this season. The Eagles went 0-4 against Peachbelt competition at the Mid-South Classic.
GRU Augusta has potent pitching in its lineup, but the Jaguars bats have struggled this year. The Jaguars have a team batting average of .241, but starting pitcher Paige Deschaine has a 2.52 ERA. In 78.2 innings pitched, she's struck out 96. Deschaine has only given up 10 extra base hits this year.
Haley Birkle is the Jags other starting pitcher. She's struggled a bit more than her counterpart in the circle with a .251 batting average against and nearly a hit an inning allowed.
Carson-Newman is 3-3 all-time against GRU Augusta. The teams split a doubleheader a year ago. The Eagles clobbered four home runs, including a pair, one of which was a grand slam, by Hefner.
Bellarmine actually owns an 8-2 win over GRU Augusta. The Knights will face Carson-Newman for the first time since 2012.
The Knights have a potent order with six players who are batting better than .300 for the season. Olivia Russell leads then way with a .464 average while Ally Foster follows suit with a mark of .447. Foster also leads the team in RBI with 18.
The Knights have primarily been a small ball team this season, no one has more than five doubles on the season for BU. However, the Knights pitching has helped to that end.
The Knights' staff has only allowed 11 extra base hits on the year. BU hasn't given up a home run. Foster and Alicia Miller both strike out a batter an inning.
The Eagles' game with the Jags will be available on the Eagle Sports Network without commentary at cneagles.com/live.
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