JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Holding an 8-1 home record against the South Atlantic Conference, Carson-Newman hosts its final home games of the 2023 season when No. 15/10 Lenoir-Rhyne visits the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex on Friday at 11 a.m. and Saturday with a doubleheader starting at noon.
Carson-Newman (20-18, 12-5) has won eight of nine home league games including eight straight since a loss to Mars Hill in 15 innings on March 4, 41 days ago. In those contests, the team is hitting .378 with runners in scoring position, 28-for-74. Opponents are reaching at a .464 to leadoff an inning but are hitting .265, 36-for-136, with runners on base and .256, 21-for-82, with runners in scoring position.
Under coach Tom Griffin, the Eagles hold a 32-65 overall record against nationally-ranked teams and are 19-34 at home. Overall as a Division II program, the Orange and Blue have a 45-96-1 record against the top 25. 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 (33-9, 14-4) have squared off 99 times in the last 33 years as the Eagles hold a 63-36 overall advantage that includes a 38-12 record in games played at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex. Coach Tom Griffin holds a 31-12 record against the Bears since taking the reins in 2006. C-N is 41-13 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 16 three-game sets played at Mossy Creek since 1990 as the Eagles have won 13 of them, with seven sweeps. C-N had 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 before dropping two of three in 2022. The only other time the Bears won a series at the SDBC came in 1995.
Winning its first SAC Tournament title since 2001 a year ago, the Bears lost game one on Championship Monday to Wingate 8-3 and trailed 6-1 before blowing out the Bulldogs 18-8. The group won four tournament games, more than it had won from 2002-21 going 3-18 over that period. The group won its first two games of the NCAA regional including a 7-1 victory over the eventual National Champions, North Greenville, before dropping the next two matchups with the Crusaders.
Projected to finish second in the preseason poll, the Bears are tied in the win column with Newberry but have two more losses than the Wolves entering the weekend as the two units will play next week. Since being swept by Wingate on March 18-19, the club has won 11 of its last 12 with the lone blemish coming against Tusculum last Saturday.
Coach Chris Ramirez's team has been just as good on the road this year going 13-3 averaging 10 runs per game away from Hickory and have won 10 in a row since a 9-7 loss to Coker on March 1, 44 days ago. With a .813 winning percentage, the team has the seventh-best mark among Division II teams with at least 10 games played. The lineup is hitting .338 on the road with 32 homers in 16 games.
Lenoir-Rhyne touts one of the best offensive groups in the country ranking second nationally in hits, fourth in homers, ninth in doubles, 11th in slugging percentage while scoring nine runs per game. The Bears have failed to hit a homer eight times going 7-1 in those games with 15 multi-homer efforts going undefeated in those affairs.
Kalamazoo College transfer Blake Bean has been one of the top hitters in the country with a .359 average, 15 homers, 45 RBIs and 11 stolen bases. He enters the weekend on an eight-game hitting streak and has knocks in 23 of his last 25. The graduate student has 15 multi-RBI days and has hit two homers thrice.
All told 12 different players have at least one home run this year with Tyler McPeak blasting 13 including six in his last 14 games. The Bears have been shut out once this season scoring double digits 17 times with 25 outings of at least 10 hits.
While the offensive numbers are impressive, the pitching staff has been one of the best in the nation ranking ninth in team ERA, four in strikeouts per nine innings and 18th in hits allowed per nine innings. The hurlers have at least six strikeouts in all but one game this year with 24 efforts in double figures. Three teams have put up 10 or more runs and the Bears are 22-0 when holding foes to four or fewer runs.
The starting rotation of Joshua Lanham, Andrew Patrick and Jackson Reid are a combined 16-3 with 188 punch outs in 153 2/3 innings pitched posting a 3.22 ERA. Patrick has three games with at least 10 strikeouts this year working at least five frames in five straight starts. Lanham has not registered double-digit strikeouts this season but has worked at least five innings in nine of his 10 outings but he has walked 21 in his last 24 stanzas.
All three games 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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