JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – In its final contest before starting South Atlantic Conference play, Carson-Newman finishes an nine-game home stand with a 1 p.m. game on Wednesday against Lee in an affair that was pushed back a day due to weather.
"It was a good experience for us to have Tampa here," Carson-Newman coach Tom Griffin said. "They are an outstanding ball club. They make you play every inning. It's important for the players themselves to remember their experiences. We can remind them but they have to draw on the experiences both good and bad."
Carson-Newman has its sights set on regaining a series lead over Lee with each team holding 10 wins through the first 20 meetings in the series. The Eagles have lost three straight losing back-to-back one-run affairs and a 4-1 defeat on Feb. 18, 2019, the last time they met.
The Eagles have lost seven of the last nine meetings and have not beaten Lee (6-3) since March 8, 2016, an 11-3 victory at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex. In that affair, the Eagles jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first. It was a 6-3 affair going into the bottom of the eighth when C-N tallied a five-run frame to pull away.
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. The Eagles used six pitchers as junior Hunter Wood (College Grove, Tenn.) picked up his first career win working 1 1/3 flawless innings.
Last season's affair was a pitcher's duel with each side producing a run in the third inning. The score remained that was until the bottom of the sixth. Ryan Beamish hit a two-out, three-run home run to right field in the bottom of the sixth inning breaking a 1-1 tie.
On the day, the Eagles were retired in order six times stranding the bases loaded in the top of the sixth. C-N mustered four hits on the day, tied for its second-lowest tally of the year.
The Flames have hovered around .500 of the past few seasons uncharacteristically finishing 23-26 overall, their first losing season as a Division II member, in 2019 posting an 11-16 mark in the Gulf South. They finished 1.5 games behind Shorter for the eighth and final slot in the league tournament.
In his 14th season, Mark Brew has won over 500 games guiding the program to seven NAIA World Series Appearances before joining the NCAA ranks in 2014. His unit was picked ninth in the preseason poll in a league where Delta State is the preseason favorite.
The biggest missing piece to the puzzle this year is the graduation of D2CCA Honorable Mention All-American Miguel Pimentel. He was top 10 in the conference in six different categories posting the second-most home runs, 13. He became the second Division II All-American in school history joining third-team selection Ben Holland in 2016.
Lee won six of its first seven games of the year before dropping the final two games of the series to West Georgia last week by 6-3 and 6-5 margins. The team has only played one true road game falling at Young Harris 1-0.
Beamish is the team's top hitter with a 345 mark through nine games this season. He has three multi-hit efforts in his last five but is two for his last nine entering Wednesday. Of the 10 players with double-digit at-bats on the season, three are hitting north of .250.
On the rubber, the team's pitching has been a major strong point with a team ERA of 2.96 racking up 90 strikeouts in 76 innings of work giving up one homer.
Wednesday's game will air on cneagles.com/live in video and audio formats with the Eagle Sports Network providing the sights and sounds from the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex.
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