JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (5-5) begins South Atlantic Conference play this weekend when it welcomes Newberry (3-8, 0-3 SAC) to the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex for a three-game series starting on Friday afternoon at 2:00 p.m.
The Eagles have dropped back-to-back games and return home for a weekend series when they have had their most success. Carson-Newman has been incredible at home in weekend series, having won seven straight home series' dating back to the 2022 season. During this stretch, it has secured four sweeps including one this season. In weekend series' this season, C-N sports a 5-1 record, all of which have come at home.
"It's really all about going back to the fundamentals and teaching and trying to get the guys to be better each day and be the best version of themselves," Carson-Newman head baseball coach Tom Griffin said. "That's all we are going to worry about and when the weekend comes we'll see how we do."
Carson-Newman has won seven of its last 11 SAC openers. Overall, the program is 19-14 in the first conference contest of the year and is 19-12-2 in the opening series of conference play. The Orange and Blue are coming off a sixth straight winning season in league action. Carson-Newman finished the SAC slate with single digit losses in year with at least 10 games played for the first time since going 15-9 in 2010. By winning percentage, last year's group posted a .652 tally, the best by the program since winning 70 percent in 2008 going 14-6.
When Carson-Newman's pitching has been on, it has mainly resulted in wins. The Eagles have not allowed more than three runs in any of their five wins this season. When the opponent has scored four runs or more, C-N has lost each of those contests. By the sixth inning of games, one has been able to tell the direction the game is going. The Eagles are 5-0 when leading after six innings and are 0-5 when trailing after six innings.
James Denten (Mt. Prospect, Ill.) continues to lead the C-N offense with nine RBI this season on nine hits. Denten has reached safely in all ten games this season. Others have begun to step up at the dish as well. Five hitters for C-N have reached base safely in five straight games or more. Aiden Gibson (Cleveland, Tenn.) and Nicholas Castellana (Lancaster, N.Y) are both riding three-game hitting streaks entering the weekend series as well.
C-N has started innings the right away, getting the leadoff guy aboard 43% of the time through five games. 15 different hitters have reached to start an inning with four of them having done so four times or more.
Meetings 87, 88 and 89 will take place this weekend at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex when Newberry arrives to Mossy Creek. C-N holds the 52-34 advantage on the all-time ledger, despite dropping five of the last six meetings. The Eagles salvaged the series finale on the road against the Wolves last season. It's the first time since 2021 that the Wolves venture to Mossy Creek. The two clubs split a two-game set that season. Carson-Newman is an outstanding 31-8 at home in the series but Newberry has won three of its last five contests in Jefferson City.
The reigning SAC champions were picked to finish first again in the South Atlantic Conference for 2024, receiving nine of the 13 first-place votes. The Wolves placed eight players on the three preseason All-SAC teams, including five on the first team. This came after Newberry had seven players on the SAC All-Tournament team, six of which are back for this season.
Despite a strong core returning for head coach Russ Triplett, it's been a shaky start to the season for the Wolves, in large part due to their challenging slate to open the year. Newberry lost a 13-inning game in the season opener to Francis Marion, only snagging one in a three-game series. The following weekend, Newberry went south to face #3 Tampa and was swept, getting outscored 44-5. After a 9-7 midweek win over Catawba, the Wolves started league play by getting swept again, this time by Wingate at home. Overcoming the weekend struggles, Newberry was able to snag a 5-3 road victory over #2 North Greenville on Tuesday.
Kade Faircloth is off to a great start hitting .361 with a team-high 13 hits. The outfielder has hit safely in three straight games, all multi-hit games as well. 2023 SAC Tournament MVP Jacob Lebron has a team-high 11 RBI and has batted in a run in four of his last five games. Newberry is the only team in the SAC without a home run so far this season.
The pitching staff carries a 8.91 ERA into the weekend. Ethan Lebron and Tyler Chinpire are the top two starting pitchers, each with three starts this season and an ERA above 9. Matias Marchesini has been solid out of the bullpen with a 2.45 ERA in 7 1/3 innings pitched and seven strikeouts. Newberry has allowed seven runs or more in all eight losses and has allowed 10 runs or more six times in 11 games played.
The weekend series starts tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. and wraps up Saturday with a doubleheader starting at noon. All three contests 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.
