JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (12-1) will try to continue its torrid start to the season with five games at the NFCA Leadoff Classic Friday through Sunday at the South Commons Complex in Columbus, Ga.
C-N opens play Friday at 1 p.m. against Northern State (4-0) before tackling Columbus State (5-2) at 4 p.m.
Play continues Saturday at 3:30 p.m. against Embry-Riddle (6-3) before the Eagles get a crack at 17th-ranked Alabama Huntsville (9-3) at 5:30 p.m.
The weekend wraps up Sunday against Ohio Dominican (2-7) at 11:30 a.m.
Carson-Newman doesn't have much familiarity with the five schools it plays this weekend. For Northern State, UAH and Embry-Riddle, it will mark the first meetings in series history between the schools.
Carson-Newman starts of play with the Wolves of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. While C-N and NSU have never squared off, the Eagles have exactly three games against NSIC competition. Carson-Newman beat Southwest Minnesota State 1-0 in 1990, and split a doubleheader with Wayne State (NE), winning 8-1 and losing 3-2, in 1992. The entire athletic department's last contest with an NSIC team came when the men's basketball program took a 73-69 loss to Winona State on Nov. 26, 2016 at a tournament at Kentucky Wesleyan.
The second game Friday features the Eagles most familiar foe, albeit one it hasn't played in nearly a decade. Columbus State leads the all-time ledger against C-N 14-9, but the teams haven't played since CSU took a 4-3 win from Carson-Newman at the 2014 Mid-South Classic. The Cougars have won three straight in the series.
While the Eagles have never played UAH or ERAU, the three schools do have some familiar foes in common. Embry-Riddle owns a 4-3 win over SAC foe Wingate this season. Meanwhile, UAH also played at the Charger Chillout (its own event) and took an 11-8 loss to No. Indianapolis.
Carson-Newman wraps up the weekend with Ohio Dominican. The Eagles beat the Panthers twice in 1992 for the only meetings in series history.
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 (seven) and RBI (24). Bailey already has a sextet of multi-RBI games, including a pair of four-RBI days. The freshman is one of five players in the last decade to homer in three consecutive games for C-N. Dating back to Feb. 12 against Shorter, she has gone yard in five of her last 15 at-bats.
SieAnna Cameron is the SAC leader in batting average, tallying a .593 average. Cameron had hit successfully in six consecutive at-bats before going 0-for-3 against Emmanuel last Saturday. She has multi-hit efforts in six of her 10 games played this season. Excluding that Emmanuel game, she has hit successfully in eight straight plate appearances.
Graduate transfer Brooke Matyasovsky already has four home run to her name as a Carson-Newman Eagle. The Eastern Connecticut State product and Division III All-American went yard 41 times in her time in the Constitution State and sits on 45 career home runs, the fourth most among active players in NCAA Division II and 11th most among all players in all divisions.
While Carson-Newman and Alabama Huntsville have never squared off, the programs are surprisingly linked. It was UAH head coach Les Stuedeman who spearheaded the nomination process for former Carson-Newman head softball coach Vickee Kazee-Hollifield's nomination to the NFCA Hall of Fame. Kazee-Hollifield was inducted during the organization's annual convention in Las Vegas in 2017.
UAH represents Carson-Newman's second crack at a nationally-ranked foe this season. Carson-Newman is 3-2 under Michael Graves in non-conference games against nationally-ranked teams. C-N won three games last year against top 25 teams (all in conference play – one against Anderson and two against Lenoir-Rhyne).
All five games will be broadcast on the Eagle Sports Network. Coverage is available on cneagles.com/live.
