HARROGATE, Tenn. – After taking its first road loss of the year on Tuesday, Carson-Newman makes the short trek up the road to Lamar Hennon Field for a three-game series starting Friday at 6 p.m. wrapping up with a twin-bill on Saturday at 1 p.m. against Lincoln Memorial in South Atlantic Conference action.
When the Eagles are at the plate, be ready early in counts as 18 of the team's 26 home runs this season have come in the first three pitches of the sequence including eight of the last 10. Four have come on the first pitch seen by the hitter and while 16 have been solo shots, four of the last six have been at least a two-run roundtripper. So far, 10 different Eagles have cranked dingers with 18 coming in the first four innings.
The two programs have clashed 77 times with Lincoln Memorial (13-12, 4-4) clinging to a one-game edge at 39-38. Carson-Newman (16-13, 3-5) has put a dent into the deficit with wins in each of the last five meetings since falling 8-5 on March 7, 2020. The five-game mark is the longest winning streak by the Eagles since winning seven straight from 2002 to 2005, a string that is the longest by C-N in the series history.
Prior to this spurt, the Railsplitters had won seven straight series since the Eagles last won one in 2011 as the club angles for a series win in back-to-back campaigns for the first time. Over that period, the Orange and Blue are 3-9 in their last 12 visits to Harrogate with the last series victory coming in 2011 where despite a 20-3 loss, the team came out ahead 14-12 and 6-5 to win the three-game set.
In 2021, Carson-Newman's pitching staff carried the load to a four-game sweep to begin April with the unit racking up 39 punch outs in 32 innings giving up nine total runs for the series as the 'Splitters hit .248 as a team. Two starters hurled quality starts while Tyler Shaver (Dandridge, Tenn.) fanned 13 over 5 2/3 innings on the rubber.
At the plate, the Eagles saw a balanced approach swiping six bases and racking up 11 extra-base hits. Kilian Daughtry (Simpsonville, S.C.) led the way in the box going 6-for-14 with five RBIs and three runs scored adding two stolen bases. Seven players scored at least two of the team's 19 runs for the weekend.
After failing to qualify for the SAC Tournament last year, LMU was picked to finish seventh in this year's preseason poll but the unit has lost 10 of its last 16 games including a pair of one-run losses last weekend to a UVA Wise team that had started SAC play 1-8.
The good news for the Railsplitters is that they are back at home this weekend where they hold a 10-5 record that includes a 1-0 victory over top-ranked Wingate on March 14 when Alex Brewer struck out 11 over 5 2/3 innings and a second-inning passed ball allowed the game's only run to cross the plate.
Offensively, the fighting 16th Presidents are towards the bottom of the league in most categories scoring six runs per game on average while hitting .266, marks that are in the bottom five of the conference. Outside of a 17-run outburst in last week's opener with the Cavaliers, the team has scored a total of 11 runs in the other five affairs.
Last season Brandon Parrott hammered C-N pitching with nine hits in 12 at bats accounting for one third of the team's output in the area. However, this season he has seven total pokes although four are doubles. Six of those hits have come in his last six games.
With the second-best fielding team in the SAC behind them, the 'Splitters pitching staff ranks fifth in the league in earned run average at 4.26 striking out over 10 batters per nine innings. Out of 25 games, 18 teams have scored six runs or fewer with 10 of those mustering no more than three runs.
The starting duo Brewer and Patrick Queener have combined to punch out 95 batters in 71 innings. Queener has thrown at least five innings in all but one outing this year and is coming off of a season-high 11 over six innings against Wise last weekend.
Fans can enjoy the Eagle Sports Network's audio stream all weekend by visiting cneagles.com/live for the audio-only broadcast.
- CN -
