JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – For the first time since 2019, Carson-Newman (10-1, 0-0 SAC) will venture into the mountains outside Asheville to take on Mars Hill (5-6, 0-0) to open up South Atlantic Conference play Wednesday at noon.
Carson-Newman hasn't played at Mars Hill due to an odd combination of CoVID repeat schedules and weather.
Carson-Newman has won six of the last seven meetings in the series since the Lions collected an 8-2 win that year at Ponder Field, the largest margin of victory for the Lions in series history.
The Eagles open up SAC play with the Lions for a fourth straight season. Carson-Newman is 5-1 in league-opening doubleheaders against the Lions in that span. However, Carson-Newman has only swept two of its last five league-opening doubleheaders (against Mars Hill in 2020 and 2022), otherwise, its been a split for C-N to open conference play dating back to 2017.
Last season, Mary Vandergriff was the hero of the day for the Eagles. She blasted a lead-off, walk-off home run in the bottom of the seventh to secure a 6-5 win and a sweep of the Lions.
Vandergriff's walk-off home run is one of two that Carson-Newman has hit in the last eight years (Katie Pritchett has the other, to beat Wingate in 2018).
Macey Hughes is the 12th player in school history with 20 career home runs. Her next bomb will place her in a tie for 10th on the all-time list with Staci Fish (2000-01) and Katie Pritchett (2015-18) and their 21 home runs. Elayna Siebert (2013-16) sits in ninth place all-time with 22 career home runs.
Macauley Bailey has made an instant impact in the Carson-Newman lineup. The freshman is second in the SAC and top-20 nationally in both home runs (five) and RBI (21). Bailey already has a sextet of multi-RBI games, including a pair of four-RBI days.
SieAnna Cameron is second in the SAC in batting average, tallying a .560 average. Cameron had hit successfully in six consecutive at-bats before going 0-for-3 against Emmanuel Saturday. She has multi-hit efforts in five of her nine games played this season.
After an 0-4 start to the year, Mars Hill has responded by winning five of its last six games. Two of those five wins were via the run-rule. The Lions plated at least seven runs in four of those five victories. A 9-1 run-rule loss to Georgia College snapped the winning streak in the second game of two on Sunday for the Lions.
First pitch between the Eagles and the Lions is set for noon Wednesday. Coverage will be available with an audio stream on the Eagle Sports Network at cneagles.com/live.
