JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Looking to extend a four-game winning, Carson-Newman plays host to Shorter Tuesday afternoon at 2 p.m. in the middle of a seven-game homestand stretching through next week.
The Eagles have been the best running team in the SAC to date with 20 steals in 22 attempts on the year besting Wingate's 15 in one fewer contest while being the second-most difficult to strikeout with 36 K's compared to Coker's 30.
Carson-Newman (4-2) has been the most electric pitching staff in the first two weeks of the year with 13.05 K's per nine innings leading the league with 72 punch outs. It ranks in the top four in every other pitching category.
After being no worse than fourth in the SAC in fielding percentage over the last four seasons, Griffin's group is last in the league in 2018 with a .931 clip and 15 total errors committed. The last time the Eagles were not one of the best in the SAC came in 2013 when they finished seventh with a .956 margin.
"Our defense has to get better," Griffin said. "It's been sloppy baseball. We got by [Friday] with it. You can't keep doing that. It's going to catch up to you. You win championships with defense. We have to clean that up out there. We have to play with more confidence. I'd like to play with a little more communication. I think we are thinking too much. We are waiting for something to go wrong. We need to make something happen."
The 30 strikeouts for @CNBaseball against Virginia-Wise on Friday is the most in a doubleheader in Tom Griffin's 13 seasons.
— Michael Wottreng (@MWottreng) February 11, 2018
Previous mark was 27 set against Brevard on March 27, 2010.
Tuesday is the seventh meeting between the two schools since they first met in 2014. The Eagles have won on Shorter's (3-4) campus in all four of their trips outscoring the Hawks 33-18 over that period.
The two programs met at the Ledbetter Complex on March 29, 2017 with C-N prevailing 11-4 behind 15 hits from the offense. It ended an eight-game road losing skid that matched the program's longest as a Division II member.
Ryan Addington ended the day by going 4-for-5 with three runs scored for his second straight four-hit game. Cade Snapp (Seymour, Tenn.) did not record a hit on the day by drove in four runs.
Will Winslow led the offense for the Hawks by going 3-for-5 with a run scored and Isaiah Maddela notched two hits and two runs knocked in.
Following a 23-23 season in 2017, Shorter was picked to finish 13th in the 14-team Gulf South Conference taking in 24 points edging out Christian Brothers's 19 to stay out of the cellar for preseason projection. No individuals earned a spot on the preseason all-conference team.
To open 2018, the Hawks are 3-4 with wins over Eckerd, Miles and Young Harris. The team's offense has five home runs, second in the Gulf South but is hitting .228 as a group and leads the conference with 54 strikeouts. None of the team's regulars in the field is hitting above .275 on the season. Samyr Santos is the leading hitter with a .273 average with three long balls and nine runs batted in. With five runs scored he has accounted for just shy of half of Shorter's 31 runs scored on the year.
Coach Wes Timmons has one of the most aggressive teams with 18 steals in 23 attempts on the year. Eight different Hawks have at least one steal led by five from Ivan Nunez. Bailey Gerstner and Raul Cortes each have four.
On the mound, Shorter ranks favorably in the majority of the stats in the Gulf South on the year. Opponents are hitting just .233 against the hurlers as the team's ERA is 3.41. Location has strayed at times as the Hawks have walked the second-most batters in the GSC with 33 through seven games.
The Eagle Sports Network will have the audio stream available on cneagles.com/live starting at 1:45 p.m. with "The AEC Countdown to First Pitch".
- CN -
