JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Tying a bow on a five-game homestand, Carson-Newman plays its final midweek home contest of the year on Tuesday at 2 p.m. hosting Shorter at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex.
After starting the season 6-11, the Eagles have won 13 of their last 17 games behind a pitching staff that has allowed five runs or fewer 12 times over the period. The streak sits at six in a row yielding a total of 17 runs, less than three per game winning five in a row. The team has been stingy during the winning streak holding foes to a .147, 11-for-75, batting average with runners on base.
Carson-Newman (19-15) is having one of its best seasons on its home diamond going 15-3 to begin the year. It is the third-best winning percentage, .833, in the South Atlantic Conference behind Newberry's .895, 17-2, and Lincoln Memorial's .867, 13-2.
Overall this year, coach Tom Griffin's group has a plus-21 run differential and has been outscored in just one inning this year, 34-28 in the fifth. The team is tied in the third and eighth innings while posting more runs than its foes in the other five frames.
Tuesday is the 14th meeting against Shorter (17-16) with the Hawks holding a 7-6 edge behind six wins in a row. The Orange and Blue has not won since a 6-5 triumph on Feb. 13, 2018. During the six-game skid, none of the games have been decided by more than four runs with four by two runs.
In the first meeting this year on Valentine's Day, there were a combined nine total runs and the Hawks scored the game's first four runs to win 4-1 as the Eagles stranded eight men on base. C-N was 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position and on the mound the pitching fanned eight batters and held the Hawks to 0-for-7 with two outs stranding six runners on base.
A year ago, coach Wes Timmons's team finished the campaign 29-22 overall and reached the Gulf South Conference Championship game. The group led 8-1 after four innings only to give up 18 unanswered runs to fall 19-8 to Lee after entering the tournament as the No. 8 seed.
The Hawks were selected to finish eight in the preseason poll with Delta State being picked as the favorite with five first-place votes versus Lee getting six first-place nods. No players were tabbed on the 19-member all-conference list.
Shorter has won three of its last four taking the final two games at West Alabama to move to 10-11 in league action. Only three games separate the top team, Montevallo, and the No. 6 club in the conference, Delta State as the Hawks are tied with Auburn Montgomery for eighth in the standings.
For the year, the group ranks 11th in the conference in scoring with 5.3 runs per game being held to five runs or fewer in 20 of 33 outings including being shut out twice. The team leads the league with 64 stolen base and more than two per game swiping at least one in all but four games and three or more 10 times.
Junior Kobe Jones leads the club with a .369 batting average, four homers and 25 RBIs stealing 12 of 15 stolen-base attempts. He has 15 multi-hit efforts and six outings with two-plus RBIs. He has hits in eight of his last nine going 13-for-34 good for a .382 clip.
Thomas Schroeder IV is hitting .345 for the year as no other regular is hitting better than .286 for the year but four players have double-digit stolen bases led by Norman Leon being a perfect 16-for-16.
On the slab, the team is seventh in the country with four shutouts powered by three by rookie Tanner Folds who has four complete games. The staff has only recorded two games with at least 10 punch outs ranking 218th in the country with 6.7 strikeouts per nine innings.
In the field, Shorter is ninth the Gulf South with a .960 fielding percentage with 17 outings of at least two including six in the last two games. Despite the issues in the field, the pitching staff has only uncorked 19 wild pitches.
Tuesday's game will air on the Eagle Sports Network with video available on FloSports with a paid subscription and an audio-only stream on cneagles.com/live.
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