JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (13-3) takes one of the country's most prolific offenses away from Mossy Creek with four games in two days the Bearcat/Fleet Invitational.
Friday, the Eagles start early in Due West, S.C. at 10:30 a.m. against Concord (2-4) before raking on the host Erskine (4-4) at 1 p.m.
Saturday, C-N shuffles over to Greenwood, S.C. for its second meeting of the season with Emmanuel (8-4) at 1 p.m. before playing host Lander (13-1) at 3:30 p.m. at Doug Spears Field.
Carson-Newman is sixth in the nation in runs scored with 129 and has plated at least eight runs in five straight games.
The offense has been keyed by an absurd level of hitting. The Eagles have 176 knocks on the year, a total that ranks second in the country. Leah Sohm (Knoxville, Tenn.), Emily Harris (Cumming, Ga.) and SieAnna Cameron (Alcoa, Tenn.) are all hitting north of .500 on the season and all are in the top 10 nationally in hits.
Sohm leads the country with her 30 knocks. Harris sits in third with 28, while Cameron rides a career-best 12-game hitting streak with 25 hits on the season. Harris has hit successfully in six consecutive plate appearances.
The Eagles have utilized that speed well once they've gotten on base. C-N already has 45 stolen bases on the year, a figure that ranks eighth nationally. The Eagles are nearly halfway home to the fifth triple-digit steals total as a team in school history. The 2004 and 2008 teams share that record with 125 stolen bases on the year.
Sohm, Harris and Natalie Corbin (Tybee Island, Ga.) are all in the top 25 nationally in steals. Sohm ranks fifth with 15.
The Eagles match wits with Concord for the first time since 2018. The Eagles lead the all-time series 7-5 and snapped a four-game losing streak to the Mountain Lions with a 10-6 win in the nightcap of a doubleheader in Athens, W.Va. in the last meeting between the two teams.
Concord is 0-4 against the SAC this season, with two high scoring losses to Newberry (14-2 and 13-9), and a doubleheader sweep at the hands of Tusculum (5-1 and 6-0).
Carson-Newman has won four straight in its series with Erskine, but it needed 10 innings last year to pick up a 5-4 win over the Flying Fleet. The Eagles lead the all-time series 49-13. The Fleet is 2-0 against the SAC this year with a sweep of Mars Hill (11-1 and 15-7) in hand. A high-scoring outfield, the Fleet are 24th nationally averaging 7.86 runs per game.
Saturday sees Carson-Newman match wits with Emmanuel for a second time this season. The Eagles scored eight unanswered runs to take an 8-3 win from the Lions at the Peeler Complex in the Georgia College Invitational in the opening weekend of the season.
Kennady Warder (Harrodsburg, Ky.) guided C-N's offense that day by driving in three with a three-hit day.
Sara King (Cumming, Ga.) went the distance in the circle for the win. She scattered eight hits to improve to 2-0. She didn't strike anyone out, but only walked one.
Finally, Carson-Newman wraps up the weekend with Lander. The Bearcats are one of the best small-ball teams in the country. They rank in front of C-N with 46 steals on the year and second in the country with 17 sacrifice bunts.
The Eagles have won three straight in the series, including two straight in the Bearcat/Fleet Invitational. C-N has a 13-3 edge all-time with the Bearcats.
Follow @CN_Eagles on Twitter for live updates of the games throughout the weekend.
