JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Riding a six-game winning streak, Carson-Newman aims to polish off a flawless six-game homestand on Wednesday for a noon first pitch against Shorter at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex.
"I like the ways things are going defensively," Carson-Newman coach Tom Griffin said. "I like what's going on with our pitchers. We are seeing some guys elevate their game. Offensively we are getting different guys to hit. That's what you want going down the stretch. We have some things that still need to be worked on. There are some things to work on in the bullpen. Once that happens, we have seen some guys elevate a little bit to help us and give us more depth. I think our guys are in a good place."
This is the team's longest winning streak of the season and best sequence since rattling off eight straight against UVA Wise and Queens in March 2021. Sitting at seven games above .500 the club has matched its best tally since being 10-3 after a 16-12 win over UVA Wise on Feb. 22.
Over the team's last 11 games, the Eagles have not committed more than one error in any of those affairs, the best string by the club without multiple errors in the last two decades. There have been three other occasions where the streak hit 10, most recently coming from Feb. 6-27 with five total errors. This year the team has committed eight miscues posting a .980 fielding percentage.
The biggest area that Carson-Newman (22-15) needs to improve comes on the mound where the team has allowed 19 more home runs, 55, than any other team in the South Atlantic Conference. Foes are launching homers once every 23 at-bats and almost 1.5 per game. One out of every six hits allowed leave the yard as the hurlers have allowed a long ball in 22 of the last 25 games and at least two 14 times. For perspective, if opponents were a single team, they would rank ninth in the nation in total long balls with Lenoir-Rhyne's 46 leading the SAC.
Wednesday is the 12th meeting between the two units with C-N looking to snap a four-game losing streak to Shorter (17-15) despite three, two-run losses over that period. The last win came on Feb. 13, 2018 in a 6-5 victory at Mossy Creek as Brett Langhorne scored three times.
When the teams met 15 days ago, the Orange and Blue held a 4-1 lead at stretch time when Shorter, with five hits through the first six innings, exploded in the seventh scoring four times taking the lead on a Lyndon Weaver three-run homer to hand C-N its first road loss of 2022.
Since that game, the Hawks are 2-5 after being swept by Lee at home this past weekend where they were outscored 24-5 as the team has mustered six total hits in each of its last four games scoring no more than four runs over that period.
On the mound, the team has allowed double digits three times including a 22-9 loss in a seven-inning series finale with Montevallo where it gave up four home runs. The hurlers have fanned double digits in four of the last eight games.
In the field for the year, the team ranks 12th in Gulf South Conference with a .947 fielding percentage posting at least two errors in 17 games this year including making a season-high seven in the middle game to the Flames on Saturday.
While the team leads its conference with 70 stolen bases ranking 21st nationally, Shorter has failed to swipe a sack in eight of its last 11 games with five total over that period. Three players have at least 10 pilfers led by 14 from Norman Leon. Jacob Pajer and Weaver have gone 12-for-13 and 11-for-13 in their stolen base attempts.
For the year, the pitching staff has been the strong point allowing 8.72 hits per nine innings but it is walking more than five batter per nine. Teams have tallied at least 10 knocks seven times but it has walked at least five batters 13 times.
Cameron Tilly has hit safely in each of the last seven games leading the team with a .380 batting average racking up four multi-hit games over the recent hot streak. He has four home runs and nine RBIs. For the year he has struck out a team-low 11 times in 92 at bats but has walked only nine times out of the three-slot in the lineup.
The midweek game will air with audio and video streams on the Eagle Sports Network by visiting cneagles.com/live for all of the coverage.
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