JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – With wins in each of its last two South Atlantic Conference series, Carson-Newman prepares for its final home games of the 2022 season hosting No. 21 Lenoir-Rhyne for a three-game series this weekend starting on Friday at 2 p.m. wrapping up with a doubleheader on Saturday at noon.
"They're really good," Carson-Newman coach Tom Griffin said. "They're solid offense, defense – everything. They a very confident club so it's going to be a challenge. All we can do is control what we can control, be the best version of ourselves. We want to make sure that we have good awareness and readiness. We will have two good training days, let the bodies recover from the past few days. I think these guys are trained and prepared to compete."
Looking for their third league series in a row, the Eagles last accomplished that feat the 2016 campaign taking two of three against Coker, Newberry and on the road against Anderson at the end of March into the second week of April. That season, the club rattled off two wins in a row in the league tournament before falling in a Sunday night game that determined the final slot in the Championship round.
Under Griffin, Carson-Newman (24-18, 9-8) hold a 30-58 overall record against nationally-ranked teams with 18 of those victories coming inside of the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex. Overall as a Division II program, the Orange and Blue have a 43-89-1 record against the top 25. This season, the club is 0-4 against top 25 teams.
With losses in five affairs in a row, the Eagles angle for their first win over a top 25 team since beating 11th-ranked Tusculum in the 2021 SAC Baseball Championships. C-N last won a series versus a ranked team against is No. 14 Northwood winning two of three against the Timberwolves on Feb. 18-19, 2018.
Carson-Newman and Lenoir-Rhyne (35-7, 13-5) have squared off 96 times in the last 32 years as the Eagles hold a 62-34 overall advantage that includes a 37-10 record in games played at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex. Coach Tom Griffin holds a 30-10 record against the Bears since taking the reins in 2006. C-N is 40-11 against L-R since the start of the 2003 season having lost more than one game straight just once, on March 21-22, 2014 in Hickory during that stretch.
There have been 15 three-game sets played at Mossy Creek since 1990 as the Eagles have won 13 of them, with seven sweeps. C-N has won nine straight home series, five of which were sweeps, over the Bears since L-R came to town in 2002 and won two out of three games. The only other time the Bears won a series at the SDBC came in 1995.
The Bears have dropped four series in a row since winning two out of three on March 21-22 and eight of the last nine overall. Due to scheduling, the teams have only met once in the last three years with the Eagles winning two out of three in Hickory in 2020.
Lenoir-Rhyne has been ranked for five meetings in the series with C-N snatching a three-game set over the No. 11 ranked team on March 23-24, 1994 in Hickory before the teams split a twin-bill on March 29 when LR was ranked 17th in the country.
Coach Chris Ramirez's team is one of the hottest clubs in the country with nine straight victories since falling 2-1 in the series finale with Catawba on March 26 posting three shutouts over that period. Savannah State has the longest string in the nation with 13 and Minot State has reeled off 11 in a row as the only two teams with longer marks than the Bears.
Lenoir-Rhyne has been solid on the road with a 13-6 record but has dominated at home going 22-1 with the lone loss coming to Anderson on March 19. The team's pitching numbers are nearly identical but at the plate the team is hitting .343 with 40 homers in Hickory versus a .286 mark and 17 dingers away from the friendly confines.
All season the team has been powered by a pitching staff that ranks sixth nationally with a 3.19 ERA racking up seven shutouts. Only Point Loma's nine are more than the Bears tally while the roster strikes out over a dozen batters per nine innings. Joshua Lanham is the leader of the pitching staff going 8-1 this year with 76 punch outs and 12 walks in 60 innings. The team is 9-1 in his starts with Catawba being the lone club to beat him. The righty has fanned double figures three times coming off of a season-high 11 against Wise last Friday.
While the pitching staff may be the headline, the offense scores over eight runs per game, good for third in the league, while blasting a conference-best 57 bombs with 15 long balls over a six-game streak. Wade Cuda leads the team with 12 but eight came in February where he hit .467 but he has posted a .253 clip in his last 25 games.
All three affairs this weekend will feature audio and video streams on cneagles.com/live on the Eagle Sports Network.
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