WINGATE, N.C. – Riding an eight-game South Atlantic Conference winning streak, No. 22 Carson-Newman hops on the bus and travels to Wingate for a four-game series at Wingate looking to match its longest conference winning string in school history. Games are slated to be played on Friday and Saturday starting at 1 p.m.
There have been three occasions where the Orange and Blue have won nine consecutive SAC affairs in a single year, the longest in the history of the program, doing so in 1990, 1999 and 2006. In Division II, the eight-game mark is tied for the sixth-longest in the country. Lindenwood holds the high tally at 20 straight with three teams at 10 in a row and Azusa Pacific at nine.
Carson-Newman (15-5, 10-2) enters play standing alone in first place of the league standings and is looking to win a third straight SAC series for the first time since 2016. C-N beat Coker, Newberry and Anderson two out of three games each in March and April of that season.
This weekend is the first time that the Eagles will enter weekend play in the conference as the top team on the table since March 23, 2018 when they entered tied with Wingate (14-7, 10-6) at 9-3 in league action. Griffin's group dropped seven of the next nine but finished strong to take third in the standings.
In one of the oldest clashes in SAC history, the two programs have met 95 times with the Bulldogs holding a 51-44 edge in the all-time series. The Bulldogs are 27-20 on their home field in the all-time matchups having won each of the last four series at Ron Christopher Stadium. C-N last took a series on April 1-2, 2011 when it captured two out three.
When the teams last met in 2018, in the Tar Heel State, the Eagles won the first game behind 10 strikeouts over seven innings by Dillon Cate. However the pitching did not hold up as the 'Dogs drew 10 walks in game two and spoiled a two-homer day from Brett Langhorne in the finale to take the set.
Wingate is sitting in sixth place in the league standings but is well within striking distance being one of the four teams to post double-digit league victories. The team is 8-2 at home with wins in each of its last four including an 8-2 victory over No. 8 Mount Olive on Wednesday.
At the plate, the team is hitting 26 points lower at home but has blasted a dozen long balls versus five on the road. Conversely on the mound the team's ERA is over a full run higher at home than it is on the road giving up seven long balls in 10 home games against two in 11 road affairs.
In the field, the team is the worst fielding team in the conference ranking 184th out of 225 clubs nationally with a .943 fielding percentage. It has made at least two errors in a dozen games this year with a season-high six at Lander in the opener.
The Bulldogs tout the second-best pitching staff in the conference based on team ERA (4.18) and hits allowed per nine innings (8.43) but is walking nearly five batters per game to rank seventh. There have been six games with double-digit punch outs and only five teams have produced 10-plus hits. Over the last eight games, no foe has tallied more than nine hits as teams are tallying less than seven hits and 3.5 runs per game.
Offensively, Wingate is ninth in team batting average (.258), on-base percentage (.367) and scoring (5.4). Most of the lack of scoring came over the first month of the year as the unit has posted double-digit runs in six of the last 12 games and seven times overall in 2021.
Hunter Dula and Jed Bryant are each tied for second in the conference in stolen bases leading the Bulldogs to 43 total on the year, the third-highest tally of the season. The team has only been caught stealing seven times and have swiped 26 bags in the last eight games.
Video links for game one, game two, game three and game four can be found by clicking the hyperlinks for each game with available here. As always, follow @CNathletics on Twitter for the latest news and notes regarding the Eagles.
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