JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Wrapping up the regular season, Carson-Newman (23-21, 16-11 SAC) welcomes Coker (28-18, 17-10 SAC) to the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex for a significant series starting tomorrow at 3:00 p.m.
Carson-Newman will honor its 17 seniors prior to the doubleheader on Saturday. Those festivities will begin at 11:20 a.m.
A lot is still left to be decided between eight different teams in the South Atlantic Conference baseball standings. There are more than 65 different tiebreakers that could come into play when things wrap up this weekend and Carson-Newman and Coker are both right in the thick of it all.
Both C-N and Coker can finish as high as second in the league but can also finish as low as eighth place. Even though Limestone could technically finish tied with C-N at 16-14 if the Saints swept their series and C-N got swept. However, the Eagles win that tiebreaker because they a better record against Catawba, the top team in the league. That makes C-N's spot in the conference tournament safe.
The Eagles need some help and at the very least a series win over Coker in order to finish as high as two and host one of the two pods. The help would need to come from Wingate, who would have to get swept by Catawba for C-N to be in the running for the two seed. Should that occur, things would get extremely complex and several tiebreak scenarios between more than just C-N and Wingate would come into play.
A benefit for Carson-Newman entering the weekend is that it owns a tiebreaker over teams it is surrounded by in the standings, despite being in a tie for fifth. The Eagles won series' against LMU, Tusculum, Newberry and Lenoir-Rhyne all of which surround C-N in the league standings.
Carson-Newman has lost back-to-back series against the Cobras but does own a 17-9 advantage in the overall series. There was a five-year stretch from 2016 to 2021 where the Eagles won ten consecutive matchups against Coker. The last time C-N played host to Coker to end the regular season was in 2019, the Eagles took all three games in the series.
The offense has its stride in the final month of the regular season, hitting .319 as a club and averaging nearly ten runs per game in April. After only launching 23 home runs last season, C-N has doubled that mark this season with 46 as a team.
Hunter Harritan continues to climb the single season record books in two separate categories. His ten saves this season are the fourth-most in a single-season, two away from tying Will Gardner and John Butler for second place. Harritan has a 1.78 ERA which currently sits as the third-lowest mark in a single-season among those who have pitched at least 25 innings.
With a series win over Wingate earlier this season, Coker heads to Mossy Creek in an ideal situation to earn the number two seed. Just like C-N, the Cobras can finish as high as second and as low as eighth place when the action wraps up on Saturday.
The Cobras are 28-18 overall and have won 17 league games to sit in third place. 5th year skipper Bob McLaughlin is well on his way to his first winning season as head coach, the program's first since 2016. Coker was picked to finish ninth in the SAC preseason poll. It heads to town winners of eight of their last twelve games and has won three of their last four away from Hartsville.
Coker presents one of the most aggressive baserunning groups in all of DII. The squad has swiped 157 bags, the second-most nationally, averaging more than three per game. Eight different players have double-digit steals led by Jacob Yarberry who has 24 and has only been caught stealing three times. It's a small ball caliber offense that has the second-most sac bunts in the SAC and has hit as many home runs as C-N's Harrison Travis this season.
Aaron Diaz is the team's ace with a 5-3 record over 68 2/3 innings. He has a 3.67 ERA in 12 starts with a complete game. Benjamin Blackwell has been of the most impressive freshmen in the league in 52 innings of work. The right-hander has a 2.25 ERA to pair along with his 6-1 record and has a team-high four saves.
The series begins tomorrow afternoon at 3:00 p.m and concludes with a doubleheader starting at 12:00 p.m. The 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.
