VIDEO: Carson-Newman vs Lincoln Memorial March 2023 Game One Highlights
VIDEO: Carson-Newman vs Lincoln Memorial March 2023 Game Two and Three Highlights
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (20-16, 13-8 SAC) makes the short trip up to Harrogate this weekend to square off against Lincoln Memorial (23-13, 14-10 SAC) in a three-game South Atlantic Conference series starting tomorrow evening at 6:00 p.m.
This series has had several thrilling finishes as of late. Carson-Newman has won five straight games in this matchup and four have decided by exactly one run. It gets even better than that. Eight of the last nine meetings have been decided by exactly one run. In 84 total meetings, 25 of them have been one-run games. The Eagles hold the slim margin in the series, 43-41 and is 20-21 in Harrogate.
Carson-Newman is amid its best stretch of the season, having won eight of its last ten games which includes three straight and four in a row in SAC play. The Eagles are coming off their first conference sweep of the season versus Anderson last weekend in Mossy Creek over Anderson.
During this ten-game stretch, C-N is hitting .308 as a team, hitting 13 home runs and driving in 67 runs. James Denten and Logan Floyd have paced the dynamic offense. Denten has a team-best four home runs during this stretch and is hitting .387. Floyd has a team-best 17 RBI with three home runs and is hitting .343.
This impressive stretch has also got quality work from multiple pitchers. Brock Culpepper (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) has thrown seven straight scoreless innings, all in this ten-game stretch and has allowed just three hits. Three other Eagle relievers have allowed two runs or less over the span of multiple appearances.
The Eagles have almost been unbeatable when holding their opponent to four runs or less, winning 14 of the 16 games when doing so. Carson-Newman has also been good in series openers this season. Griffin's club is 7-2 in game one of the series and has won all but two series this season.
The Railsplitters have been playing just as well as C-N as of late. After a five-game losing streak, LMU has responded to win four straight games, taking all three games against Emory & Henry this past weekend. Lincoln Memorial is 14-10 in league action, sitting in a tie for sixth place. It won six of its first seven league games but has gone just 8-9 since the excellent start in league play.
LMU has a 10-5 home record this year but has lost two home series to UVA Wise and Tusculum, two weeks apart from one another. Prior to defeating Kentucky State yesterday afternoon, the Railsplitters had lost three of their last four in Harrogate.
Justin Haywood's club has hit the second-most doubles in the country with 104 this season, averaging three per game. The group slugs a league-best .535 and has hit the most sacrifice flies in the SAC with 28. The team has the third highest batting average and has hit the third most home runs. It's an offense that also scores the third most runs in the SAC at 8.7. Pacing the offensive attack is Carson Boles who is hitting an impressive .481 at the plate, the second-best batting average in the country. He leads the nation in doubles with 20 and has drove in 51 runs in 36 games. His nine home runs also leads LMU. Boles' 65 hits are 17 more than anyone else on the team. Four other Splitters have drove in at least 30 runs and are hitting above .300.
David Brian Ellison is the team's top reliever with a 1.80 ERA in 20 innings of work. He has 25 strikeouts to help a pitching staff that averages the second-most strikeouts per nine innings. Christian Pencek is tied for the league lead with eight wins to just zero losses. He has a 5.50 ERA in ten starts and has struck out 55 batters in 54 innings.
The three-game series starts tomorrow at 6:00 pm and wraps up with a doubleheader on Saturday at 1 p.m. All three contests will air with an audio-only stream on cneagles.com/live. The contest can be viewed on FloSports by going to cneagles.com/flobase.
