C-N Game Notes (PDF)

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – RV Carson-Newman (10-1, 3-0 SAC) hits the road for its first road conference series of the season, as it travels to Newberry (9-3, 2-1) for a three-game series starting tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. at the Smith Road Complex.

Carson-Newman started conference play on a strong note, sweeping Emory & Henry at home this past weekend. C-N outscored E&H 20-7 in the three wins. 

Now, The Eagles will try to accomplish something they have not done in nearly 20 seasons and that's start conference play 6-0. The last time C-N swept its first two conference series was in Tom Griffin's first season as head coach, 2006. The Eagles swept Presbyterian, and the next weekend won all three games versus Newberry. They ended up starting that conference season 9-0 and finished third in the league.

Getting off it to its best start in program history, Carson-Newman is receiving votes in the latest National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association poll. C-N has the most votes for teams not in the top 25 with 31.

Three weeks into the baseball season, Carson-Newman has one of the best offensive teams in DII. Griffin's group ranks top ten nationally in on-base percentage at .465, doubles (31), fifth in team batting average (.338). The Eagles offense is averaging ten runs per contest, 12th best nationally. Four different hitters have at least 10 RBI this season led by Logan Floyd's 16 RBI.

Under the direction of first-year pitching coach Jason White and assistant coach James Sofield, Carson-Newman's arms have been terrific and have guided the Eagles to a pair of shutouts through the first 11 games. The pitching staff has held opponents to three runs or less in six of the 10 contests this season. C-N had just five games last season holding opponents to two runs or less, it's already accomplished that this season.

Starting pitcher Ryan Higgins is coming off seven scoreless and hitless innings in his last start to earn SAC and TSWA pitcher of the week honors. He has not allowed a run to score in his first three starts and has the most innings pitched in DII without a run allowed.

Four different pitchers have tossed multiple innings and not allowed a run this season. The pitching staff has a SAC-best 3.57 ERA and is ninth nationally with a 1.13 WHIP. C-N's 3.38 strikeout to walk ratio is the eighth best in the country as well. The Eagles only allow 2.45 walks per nine innings, seventh-best nationally.

Carson-Newman leads the all-time series with Newberry 54-36 and has won three of the past four regular season matchups. C-N took two of three in the first conference series last season in Mossy Creek. The two teams last met in the winners bracket of the SAC tournament last season, with Newberry winning 8-1.

Newberry was one of four South Atlantic Conference schools to receive a first-place votes in the preseason coaches' poll where they finished sixth, one spot in front of C-N. The Wolves are 9-3 in the first month of the season and are coming off a weekend where it took two of three versus Tusculum to start league action. The Pioneers won the series opener, but Newberry bounced back outscoring TU 13-5 in the final two games of the series.

Jay Snyder takes over as head coach for Newberry, after Russell Triplett left for the Citadel. Snyder has spent the past 17 seasons with the Wolves baseball program and has been associate head coach and the third base coach since 2014 prior to being promoted as the head man.

Three hitters are hitting above .400 for the Wolves who hit .321 as a team. Bryson Nuckolls has a team-high .588 batting average and 20 hits in ten starts. Chandler Mims has been the top run producer with 19 RBI, but he has just three RBI over his last four games.

Chansen Cole is the team's ace at the start of the year. He has won all three of his starts, posting a 1.59 ERA with 29 strikeouts in 17 innings. He has pitched ten straight scoreless frames. The pitching staff has held opponents to three runs or less in five of the 12 games.

First pitch Friday from the Smith Road Complex is set for 4:00 p.m. Saturday's doubleheader is slated for a 1:00 p.m. start. There will be a free audio stream available courtesy of the Eagle Sports Network on cneagles.com/live.