HARTSVILLE, S.C. – In a season unlike any other, Carson-Newman closes out the South Atlantic Conference regular-season slate with its longest journey of the year visiting Coker for noon first pitches on Saturday and Sunday in a four-game series at Tom J. New Field.
The Eagles enter the weekend sitting in sixth place and can do no worse than seventh and can rise to fourth in standings and earn one of the coveted byes into the double elimination of the SAC Baseball Championships. For that scenario to play out, C-N would need to sweep and see Newberry and Lenoir-Rhyne split their four-game set.
Carson-Newman (21-13, 16-10) and Coker (14-17, 12-11) have faced off 16 times with the Eagles holding a strong 12-4 advantage with the Cobras never winning two straight. The Orange and Blue have rattled off eight straight wins including a pair of extra-inning wins since Coker's last win on Feb. 26, 2016, a 4-3 victory at Mossy Creek. Over that period the run differential is 65-33.
When the teams last met in 2019 in Jefferson City, coach Tom Griffin's club won a pair of walk-off decisions to close out the regular season highlighted by an RBI double from John Sharpe in the finale. The first and third games of the year were one-run affairs with a 13-3 nestled in the middle.
The Cobras have won one of the five series taking two out of three in the first-ever meetings at home in 2014. The only other time that the programs squared off in the Palmetto State came in 2018 when C-N swept behind four frames of at least three runs scored.
Coach Bob McLaughlin's team is playing at home for the first time since March 27 after playing seven straight on the road. The team has won seven of its last eight conference affairs with series wins over Limestone and UVA Wise. Catawba and Wingate are the only teams to win a series over the Cobras this year.
Coker is 7-4 at home this year versus a 7-13 mark away from the friendly confines. The biggest difference comes on the mound where the team has a 5.59 team earned average versus an 8.58 mark and 19 homers allowed in road affairs.
Fielding is the team's biggest strong suit ranking second in the conference and 29th in the country with a .972 fielding percentage. There have only been six games with multiple errors committed and 14 outings without one including each of the last four.
The lineup ranks 10th in the conference in scoring posting 5.3 runs per game and 11th in on-base percentage at .369. After hitting five home runs in the first 25 games of the year, the team has 18 in six April affairs, all of which have been multi-homer outings, including seven at UVA Wise on April 3, the fourth-most in SAC history and the seventh most in the country in 2021.
Reilly Hall leads the team with nine homers and 29 RBIs but has a .242 batting average for the year. Despite hitting .158 in March, he is 9-for-20 in April with seven long balls and 14 RBIs. Eight of the homers have come on the road and six came in the Wise series.
On the mound, the pitching staff ranks 10th in the conference with a 7.45 ERA giving up nearly 11 hits per nine innings pitched and walking over five per contest. Of the 10 pitchers that have logged double-digit innings on the slab, six have an ERA north of seven.
There will be video and live stats available courtesy of the folks over at Coker with live in-game updates available on Twitter by following @CNathletics.
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