ANDERSON, S.C. – Looking to solidify its spot in the South Atlantic Conference Baseball Tournament, Carson-Newman hops on the bus for the final time vonTournament, Carson-Newman hoph Atlantic Conference Baseball Tournament, Carson-Newman hits the bus for the final time isiting Anderson for a three-game series starting at 6 p.m. on Friday wrapping up with a doubleheader on Saturday at 1 p.m.
Entering the final weekend of play, the Eagles sit in seventh in the league standings but will keep their eyes on Mars Hill's trip to Wingate and Coker's series in Hartsville against Newberry. The Cobras have dropped 10 in a row and sit 2.5 games back of the Orange and Blue. There are a variety of scenarios but the club has a win and in scenario that could push them as high as sixth if Tusculum takes out Catawba.
Carson-Newman (25-21, 10-10) has been one of the best road teams around this year winning 12 times in 17 tries including victories in three of its last four league outings. Offensively the team sees an uptick in nearly every area while the hurlers have been more efficient posting an ERA nearly a half run lower.
This weekend will be the first meeting between the two clubs since Anderson (21-21, 7-14) won a play-in game against C-N in the 2019 SAC Tournament, 9-4. It meant the Eagles dropped back-to-back games against Anderson for the first time since the 2013-14. The Trojans scored the game's first six runs as the teams combined for 28 hits.
There have been 40 all-time meetings between the two teams with the Eagles winning 30 of the first 40. C-N has won 12 of the last 17 and had won six in-a-row before losing the series finale on March 30, 2019 by a 3-2 tally. Coach Tom Griffin's team has won five consecutive series since the Trojans snared two out of three in February 2014 a year after winning two of three at Mossy Creek, the lone two series victories by Anderson.
To start 2022, Anderson rattled off 11 straight wins but the team is 10-21 since. Despite the slide, the team had won six straight contests prior to losing the series finale to Queens last week. It had been a seven-game drought between league wins before a sweep of Coker and a series triumph over the Royals last week.
Anderson has spent a good amount of time at home going 13-9 but the biggest difference for the team comes on the mound where it is posting a 4.74 ERA on the home diamond versus an 8.50 tally away from home. For context, the staff has given up seven total long balls in 22 home games compared to 32 in 18 road outings.
Expanding on the pitching staff, the hurlers posted a 2.86 ERA in the first 15 games of the year before seeing that number rise to 9.30 in March settling in at a 6.57 clip for the month of April. Joseph Cottone leads the rotation with 74 punch outs in 64 1/3 innings and has yielded four runs over his last 14 2/3 innings highlighted by fanning 13 in a win over Coker on April 9.
In the batter's box, the lineup has 22 total homers and is led by Carlos Hernandez hitting five with 46 RBIs and a .338 batting average. He has had an opposite season than the roster hitting .262 in February while posting nearly a .400 mark in his last 26 games with hits in eight of his last nine games.
Fans can find video and live stats by following along with Anderson's production with live, in-game updates available on Twitter and Instagram by following @CN_Eagles.
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