GAFFNEY, S.C. – Nearly 11 months ago Carson-Newman played its last game when the 2020 season was abruptly canceled less than 24 hours after a visit to Alabama-Huntsville. After a 331-day wait, the Eagles open the 2021 season with a road trip to Limestone for a three-game series starting Thursday at 4 p.m. with a doubleheader slated for 3 p.m. on Friday.
"A successful weekend is keeping as many guys healthy and Covid-free to make this trip," Carson-Newman coach Tom Griffin said. "They are super excited as is coach Wiley at Limestone. They are super jacked up to get the season started. As coaches it's pretty fulfilling that they are going to have the opportunity to do something that a lot of people thought may not have happened."
The 2021 season marks the 27th straight campaign that Carson-Newman will open the year on the road since it last hosted an opener in 1992. Since 1990, the Eagles are 13-18 on opening day with wins on opening day in each of the last two years, the first time since 2008 and 2009 the program won back-to-back openers. The Orange and Blue have not won three straight season cork poppers since a string of three from 1998 to 2000.
The Eagles produced five straight winning seasons, its longest such streak since registering a string of that length came over a nine-year period from 2002 to 2010. During that time, the Eagles are 159-116 with a pair of 31-win campaigns.
February 2020 proved to be a friendly month to the Eagles who went 13-6 in the first 19 games of the year. On the mound, the team yielded a .288 batting average against fanning 162 batters in the same amount of innings. At the plate, the team cranked 19 homers and swiped 42 bases. Over the last two opening months, the unit is 27-9.
Griffin returns his five top hitters based on batting average powered by a potent outfield that combined for seven home runs, 57 RBIs, 72 runs and 26 stolen bases. On the mound, the top three and five of the top six pitchers in terms of innings pitched return to bolster the hurlers.
Entering this series, the two programs have squared of 41 times with the Eagles holding a 24-17 overall lead despite going 12-16 in the Palmetto State. The Eagles offense was off the charts in four matchups in 2020 scoring 58 runs behind seven home runs and a flawless 11-for-11 effort on the base paths. However the team did yield 45 runs and walked 25 batters in 36 innings over four slugfests.
C-N plays at Limestone to open the season for the fourth straight season going 7-3 over the past three years coming off of a season-opening sweep a year ago that saw the Eagles score 38 runs including a bonkers 18-17 series finale to seal the sweep behind a nine-run eighth inning.
"They are all competitive ball games," Griffin said. "Parity [around the region] is really pretty good I think. I love coach Wiley and his staff. They are great people. I love going over there. They treat us really well. We know what kind of team they are. There is a lot of respect for both teams and both coaches."
The Saints did not get a chance to make a final imprint in Conference Carolinas making the move to the South Atlantic Conference this year although this week's series will be classified as a non-conference series. In 2020, the team went 6-17, playing 19 home games accounting for a 5-14 mark.
Coach Chris Wiley is looking to improve his team's pitching staff as the unit tallied a 6.81 team earned run average, the second-worst in the league a year ago. The hurlers allowed 20 home runs and opponents hit .283.
At the plate, the team scored roughly seven runs per game tallying a dozen homers. Ben Huber figures to be one of the top hitters in the league this year after hitting .420 a year ago with five homers and 25 RBIs adding 10 doubles, all three categories were among the top five in Conference Carolinas.
Fans can follow along to the contests by visiting @CNathletics on Twitter or Instagram and by clicking here for live stats provided by Limestone.
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