NEWBERRY, S.C. – For the first time in 2023, Carson-Newman will play a nationally-ranked foe travelling to No. 9/14 Newberry for a three-game South Atlantic Conference series against teams sitting one and two on the league table. The series opens on Friday at 6 p.m. wrapping up with a doubleheader on Saturday at 1 p.m.
The Eagles have won three straight SAC series for the first time since 2016 taking down Coker, Newberry and Anderson while winning the first three league series of a campaign for the first time since 2015 beating eventual national-runners up Catawba, Brevard and Anderson. Coach Tom Griffin's team has not won four series in a row since 2011 and has not won the first four league series in a year since the 2006 campaign.
Under Griffin, Carson-Newman (14-13, 7-2) hold a 31-62 overall record against nationally-ranked teams going 8-22 away from home. Overall as a Division II program, the Orange and Blue have a 44-93-1 record against the top 25. In 2022, the club went 1-8 against the top 25 blanking No. 21 Lenoir-Rhyne on April 15 in game two of the series 6-0.
Most of the road games against the top 25 came over a decade ago with the Eagles splitting a four-game series at seventh-ranked Catawba on Feb. 27-28, 2021. Despite never winning a road series against a ranked foe, 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.
The Orange and Blue has squared off with Newberry (23-4, 8-1) 83 times holding the overall lead at 51-32 but is 13-18 at the Smith Road Complex. The Wolves have won the last three including an 11-8 triumph to eliminate the Eagles from the 2022 SAC Tournament despite C-N trailing by five going into the ninth and getting the winning run to the plate. It was the second year in a row that Newberry ended the team's year.
The last time the units met for a three-game series in the Palmetto State came in 2018 when the Eagles took two out of three after not winning a road series against the Wolves since 2013. C-N pitching struck out 26 batters against a group of Wolves that was the most difficult in the league to retire on strikes entering play.
Newberry has been one of the winningest teams in the country since the start of 2019 posting a 145-54 overall record, good for a 73 percent winning percentage, and a 74-20 mark in SAC play. At home, the Wolves are 83-17 including 15-1 this year with wins in nine straight since a 7-3 loss to Coker on Feb. 8. It is good for the ninth-longest winning streak in the nation behind Catawba's 10 for the league best.
Coach Russell Triplett's team is one of the nation's best offensive teams ranking in the top 10 of the country in eight different areas highlighted by the eight-best scoring team with 10 runs per game, sixth in team batting average at .346 and ninth in on-base percentage at .450.
The Wolves have swiped 93 bases, good for third in the country, being caught 24 times stealing a base in all but two games, the final two against Francis Marion in the first series of the year. With steals in 24 straight outings, the team has at least two in 22 overall contests and seven straight.
Braylin Marine, the 2022 SAC Player of the Year, has not missed a beat after driving in 73 runs in 2022. In 2023, the senior ranks fourth in the country with 43 RBIs with 12 multi-RBI efforts including seven straight before not knocking in one against Coker on Tuesday. He is hitting .475 and has stolen 22 bases.
Eight players with at least 35 at bats are hitting at least .300 for the year with Donovan Ford leading the way with a .495 batting average and 26 stolen bases. The sophomore is riding a 16-game hitting streak since going 0-for-4 against Georgia College on Feb. 22. He has 17 multi-hit games.
Newberry pitching ranks 10th in the league with seven strikeouts per nine innings and is seventh in team ERA with a 5.08 margin. The group has allowed double-digit hits 12 times but allowed only 10 or more runs thrice and is 11-0 when foes score four or fewer runs.
Sophomore right-hander Tyler Chinpire has been the team's ace winning four of his seven starts allowing 33 base runners in 29 1/3 innings pitched. He has gone at least five innings four times with his best outing coming against Mars Hill on March 11 firing six innings of one-run ball against Mars Hill.
All three games this weekend will air on the Eagle Sports Network with an audio stream available on cneagles.com/live.
- CN -
