JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (11-3) and Georgia College (4-7) will attempt to play two a week after their scheduled doubleheader in Milledgeville, Ga., was rained out.
The Eagles and Bobcats will meet at a neutral site in Young Harris, Ga., at E.D. Rivers Field on Young Harris College's campus. The doubleheader starts at 4:30 p.m.
Carson-Newman will try to snap a five-game skid to the Bobcats. The five-game losing streak is the longest active skid against an opponent.
This marks the first time since 2010 that the teams have met at a neutral site. The Eagles won a 6-1 contest against the Bobcats on March 5 that year at the Mid-South Classic in Spartanburg, S.C.
The Bobcats were picked third in the preseason Peach Belt Conference coaches poll behind North Georgia and Armstrong State.
Georgia College went 41-18 last season, reaching the NCAA Tournament and winning a pair of games there to reach the sub-regional final. The Bobcats return three seniors including infielder Faith Flanders, who led the PBC with 55 RBIs last year.
"(Head coach) Jamie (Grodecki) always does a great job of manufacturing runs," head coach Vickee Kazee-Hollifield said. "They'll bunt. They'll squeeze. Defensively we'll have to be ready to handle that, and handle it every inning by getting that first out. Our defense will need to rise to the occasion."
Carson-Newman enters the contest off a doubleheader split with Erskine. Game one saw the Eagles break out eight runs in the fifth inning en route to a run-rule, 10-2 win. Lacie Rinus (Murfreesboro, Tenn.), Abby Fiessinger (Benton, Ky.), Taylor Scott (Huntington, W.Va.) and KaraLynne Levi (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) all had mult-hit days. Rinus, Scott and Allison Webster (Charlestown, Ind.) all had multi-RBI performances.
Fiessinger extended the hitting streak to start her career to 14 games. If she gets base hits in both games of the doubleheader with the Bobcats, she's match Kristen Toppel (Roanoke, Va.) for the fourth longest hitting streak in school history.
The Eagles turned around and lost game two to the Flying Fleet 8-2. Erskine scored three in the sixth and five in the seventh of the nightcap to break open what was a 1-0 game in favor of C-N. All eight of the Fleet's runs were scored with two outs on the board.
Georgia College has split with two South Atlantic Conference opponents this season. The Bobcats started the year with an 8-1 win over Queens before dropping the nightcap to the Royals 6-2. The inverse was true in GC's last doubleheader. They started out losing game one 6-2 to Anderson before salvaging a split with a 3-2 win in game two. That snapped a five-game losing streak for Georgia College.
Live stats for the doubleheader will be available at yhcathletics.com. Follow @cnathletics for live updates.
