JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman seeks its first South Atlantic Conference win of the season Friday afternoon at 2 p.m. when Anderson (S.C.) comes to town for the first of a three-game series that wraps up with a twin-bill Saturday afternoon beginning at noon.
"There is a lot of baseball left," Carson-Newman coach Tom Griffin said. "The season isn't a sprint. It's more of an 800-meter run. It does go quick but we do have a lot of meat on the bone still. We haven't played our best baseball and we know that. Yesterday we thought we played more of a complete game. In some of our wins we still felt like there was more there. The main thing is the attitude and effort of the players and that's been good."
The two schools have played 29 times since the first meeting in 2001 as the Eagles hold a 22-7 overall advantage as the Eagles won 17 of the first 18 outings.
Carson-Newman is 8-2 at home winning each of the first eight games as this weekend marks the first time since 2013 that C-N and Anderson play at Mossy Creek as the Trojans took two out of three in that series. The last time the Eagles won a series at home was in a three-game sweep in 2011.
Griffin's group is looking for a series victory for the third straight season against Anderson having won two out of three in each of the last two seasons.
The last time C-N began a season 0-3 in SAC play, 2011, the Eagles second series in league action came against Anderson in a three-game set the team picked up a sweep in. The last time the program began a conference season 0-4 came in 2009 when it lost two to Catawba and a pair to Lincoln Memorial.
Anderson is ninth in the poll after finishing last season 10th in the conference with a 20-30 overall record and a 9-15 mark in league play. The group needs to replace first-team selection Steven Cooper, a current assistant coach, at first base and honorable mention catcher L.J. Newman.
The Trojans enter the weekend riding a seven-game losing streak with their last win coming on Feb. 25 in the first game of a doubleheader against Lenoir-Rhyne, 8-6. The team's run differential this season is minus-88 having tallied a total of 75 runs. The next closest team is Brevard's 103. In six league outings the team has tallied just 14 total runs while yielding 51. The Trojans have been shut out twice and limited to just a run twice.
Coach Joe Miller's team has just one win on the road in eight tries coming at Southern Wesleyan on Feb. 22 winning 4-2. The team is hitting 50 points away from home but is allowing three more runs per game than at home.
As an offense, Anderson is last in the league in on-base percentage at .336 as a unit and total runs scored having plated 72. The team has been limited to four runs or fewer 10 times including in each of its last five games. Collectively the team has just four stolen bases and has hit just seven home runs.
The pitching staff has not been much better ranking last in the league and 219th in the nation in hits allowed per nine innings of nearly 13 per game while posting a team ERA of 7.12, 10th in the SAC.
Redshirt-senior Chris Ayers has been the most consistent starting pitcher ranking fifth in the league with a 2.29 ERA posting a record of 2-2 with 23 strikeouts and seven walks allowed in 19 2/3 innings.
The Eagle Sports Network will be on site to provide a video and audio stream on cneagles.com/live starting 10 minutes prior to the first pitch of each game.
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