JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – For the second time this season, Carson-Newman (5-4) hits the road when it travels to Cleveland, Tenn. to face off with the Lee Flames (7-4) tomorrow afternoon at 3:00 p.m.
Carson-Newman is coming off another home series win, taking two of three from Cedarville over the weekend. The Eagles have won seven straight home series at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex.
"All I'm worried about is our practice on Monday and us understanding how we need to play this game," Carson-Newman head baseball coach Tom Griffin said. "I need to get the guys in a better position to have success. I do believe this is a group that can be very successful, even more than what we are now. I have to do a better job of figuring out how to get them to be that way."
Carson-Newman hits the road for the second time this season, eyeing its first midweek win of the season. The Eagles offense has produced just four runs in the first two midweek contests of the season.
C-N will look to get on track when playing away from Mossy Creek early in the season. The Eagles have lost 11 of their last 12 February road games and only won one such game in 2023.
Dalton McLain (Greeneville, Tenn.) has a team-high ten hits, four of which are for extra bases to go along with six runs batted in. After hitting just two home runs in its first six games of the year, C-N hit three over the weekend against Cedarville including a Spencer Williams go-ahead grand slam to seal the series for C-N.
The Eagles have been able to overcome slow starts to games so far. Opponents are +16 through the first three innings but C-N +13 in the middle innings and +5 in the final three of games this season. C-N has only scored first on two occasions this year and is 2-0 when doing so.
Carson-Newman and Lee are set to square off for the 11th straight season, after the Flames took a pair of contests against C-N last season to hold a 14-13 lead in the all-time series. This will be the first of two scheduled meetings between the two clubs. Should the two teams meet as scheduled, it'll be the fourth straight season with two matchups between the Eagles and Flames.
Almost exactly one year ago, Lee scored four first inning runs to secure a 6-4 home win. C-N scored two runs in the ninth and was able to get the tying-run to the plate. In the return trip to Mossy Creek, it was Carson-Newman gaining the early momentum with a 4-2 lead after two innings. But that lead did not last long as the Flames put up three runs in the third and went on to score nine unanswered runs in the middle innings to run away with a nine-run victory. Lee has won six of its last seven home games against Carson-Newman and has won four of the last five contests in the series.
The Flames have been picked to finish third in the Gulf South Conference preseason poll. The high preseason ranking comes after the club finished 28-25 and 15-15 in league play, good for seventh place. Lee is 7-4 overall after a 4-1 start and is coming off a series win in their conference opener against Shorter, a team C-N was defeated by back on Feb 6. The Flames have played four games against SAC schools and are 3-1. They defeated Lincoln Memorial in a midweek contest on Feb 7, 6-4. That was followed by taking two of three from Mars Hill, falling in the middle game by just a run.
Brandon Daniels has been the biggest threat at the plate hitting a team-best .452. He has six extra base hits and is responsible for driving in a team-high of 13 runs as well. Josiah Miller paces a Lee squad that has 15 home runs in 11 games, with Miller's three leading the way. Cam Suto has been walked 15 times and is getting on base nearly 60% of the time. Nine different hitters have driven in at least six runs. The bats have produced double digit hits in six of the eleven games and have not had less than six in any game.
The Lee pitching staff has a 4.64 ERA through 11 eleven games, headlined by starting pitcher Jack Nedrow who is 3-0 and has struck out 23 batters in 17 innings with a 1.59 ERA. Four different relievers have pitched at least four innings and allowed two runs or less.
First pitch from Larry Carpenter Stadium at Olympic Field is set for 3:00 p.m. with an audio-only stream available on cneagles.com/live.
