JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Wednesday afternoon at 3 p.m. Lee plays host to Carson-Newman for a non-conference outing as the Eagles looking to flip the script on the road against the Flames.
"This is a mental thing," Carson-Newman coach Tom Griffin said. "It becomes a not having good luck thing. It's 8-6, three runners on and you hit a ball that in most days goes out and guy makes a good catch going back. We talked about trusting this morning in chapel. God's going to put a lot of trials in front you. Do we trust each other? It's learning how to compete on a daily basis.
"I don't know what we have to do. We are going to keep coming out and keep training. We are going to keep working with guys and hopefully it becomes a trust thing and stick with the process."
Carson-Newman (8-11) and Lee (13-5) hit the diamond for the 18th time since the two programs began playing during the 1998 season with C-N holding a 10-7 edge in the first 17 outings. This season will be the fourth straight year that the Eagles and Flames have played with the Eagles ahead 4-3 in Cleveland, Tenn.
Last year, Griffin's group extended its winning streak to 11 games with an 11-3 win at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex on March 8. It matched the longest streak over the last six years the Eagles reeled off 11 straight victories from March 17-29, 2010.
Paul Kirby finished the day by going 3-for-4 with two doubles, a home runs and five RBIs for his sixth mulit-hit game of the season. C-N used six pitchers as junior Hunter Wood (College Grove, Tenn.) picked up his first career win working 1.1 flawless innings.
To start the season, the Eagles are 1-7 on the road with losses in four straight. The last win on the road came on Feb. 8 in an 11-5 victory at Limestone. The club's ERA is 9.86 on the road compared to 4.93 at home while hitting .229 collectively away from the friendly confines versus .291 at Mossy Creek.
A season ago, Lee finished the year with a 30-18 overall record and an 18-11 mark in the Gulf South to finish sixth in the league. The Flames lost both games they played in the league championship and were picked to finish seventh in 2017 in the league's preseason coaches' poll.
Four pieces of last year's team are no longer with the team including third-team All-American and Gulf South Player of the Year Ben Holland and All-South Region pick Luke Toms. The Flames also had a pair of pitchers selected in last year's MLB draft as Justin Alleman was a 20th round pick of the San Francisco Giants and Trenton Hill went in the 34th round to the Miami Marlins.
Lee began the year 9-1 but is just 4-4 over its last eight games. The Flames began the season by taking two out of three games against Catawba and beat Lincoln Memorial 8-5 on Feb. 15.
The pitching staff has started the year as one of the best in the country ranking 41st in the nation in ERA at 3.64. The unit does not strike out batters effectively ranking 175th with 6.9 punch outs per nine.
The offense is scoring just six runs per game this year, in the middle of all Division II teams compiling a team batting average of .297, 97th in the nation, and on-base percentage of .379, 126th in the U.S.
Senior outfielder Geremy Walton powers the offense with a .417 batting average, scoring 16 times with 17 RBIs while posting a team-high five home runs, 30 hits, six doubles and 55 totals bases.
The Eagle Sports Network will be on hand at Olympic Field to handle the audio broadcast on cneagles.com/live. Coverage starts at 2:50 with "The Appalachian Electric Cooperative Countdown to First Pitch" featuring an interview and starting lineups leading up to game time.
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