JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (4-0) will venture away from the banks of Mossy Creek for the first time this season for six games over three days at the Alabama Huntsville-hosted Charger Chillout in Albertville, Ala.
The Gulf South and Great Lakes Valley Conference-heavy slate features four teams that Carson-Newman has never played before and two that it will be playing for just the second time in school history.
Carson-Newman starts play with Mississippi College (4-1) and Maryville (Mo.) (2-2) on Friday at noon and 2:30 p.m. Carson-Newman took a riveting 10-9 decision from Mississippi College last season at the Charger Chillout in 10 innings.
Mary Vandergriff (Chattanooga, Tenn.) executed a sacrifice bunt to put the international-rule runner Syerra Rogers (Graysville, Tenn.) on third. After a fly out, SieAnna Cameron (Alcoa, Tenn.) slashed a single down the left field line to give the Eagles the walk-off win over the Choctaws.
Carson-Newman has never played the Maryville Saints out of the Great Lakes Valley Conference. However, Maryville is familiar with Lincoln Memorial, who took two from the Saints in a season-opening tournament in run-rule fashion in both games. The Eagles fell in extra-innings to Maryville's GLVC counterpart Southern Indiana last year at the same event.
Day two gives Carson-Newman two cracks at Gulf South foes. The Eagles take on Christian Brothers (1-1) and Union (0-5) for the first time ever. Carson-Newman was 5-1 last season against the Gulf South Conference with the lone loss coming at the hands of Lee in a home game at the Vickee Kazee-Hollifield Softball Complex. The Eagles take on the Bucs at 1:30 p.m. Saturday before a matchup with the Bulldogs at 4 p.m.
Carson-Newman wraps up the weekend with a final game against a GLVC school and another against at GSC school. C-N plays Sunday morning at 10 against No. 16 Indianapolis (0-0) before wrapping up the weekend at 12:30 against Shorter (0-3). While the Eagles have never taken on the Greyhounds, they picked up a 17-5 run-rule win over the Hawks last season.
On the Gulf South side, the Eagles face teams predicted to finish eighth (Mississippi College), ninth (Union), 12th (Christian Brothers) and 13th (Shorter) in the Gulf South preseason poll. Meanwhile, UIndy was picked to win the GLVC while Maryville was picked to finish fifth.
Carson-Newman picked up three wins last year over nationally ranked teams (two against No. 23 Lenoir-Rhyne and another over No. 13 Anderson). The UIndy game will be Carson-Newman's first regular season non-conference game against a nationally-ranked team since taking on No. 5 Young Harris on Valentine's Day in 2022. The Eagles lost that game on a walk-off grand slam 13-11. Carson-Newman is 3-1 under Michael Graves in non-conference games against nationally-ranked teams.
While early, Carson-Newman ranks 23rd nationally after the opening week of the season with 6.5 runs per game. In a much welcome change from last season, Carson-Newman is fourth nationally in strikeout to walk ratio. The Eagle pitching staff has struck out 9.5 batters for every one that it has walked to open this season.
Freshman hurler Riley Sikes (Powell, Tenn.) is one of 32 pitchers nationwide with more than nine innings of work this season who hasn't issued a free pass.
Follow @CN_Eagles on Twitter for live updates of the games.
