Tournament teams litter Carson-Newman’s 2022 schedule
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – With one of the most difficult schedules in recent memory on tap, Carson-Newman coach Tom Griffin unveiled the 2022 docket on Thursday featuring seven teams and 20 games against NCAA regional clubs out of the 51-game slate.
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – With one of the most difficult schedules in recent memory on tap, Carson-Newman coach Tom Griffin unveiled the 2022 docket on Thursday featuring seven teams and 20 games against NCAA regional clubs out of the 51-game slate.
"When we are scheduling we are trying to schedule the same people that we have good relationships with that you know are competitive and do things the right way," Griffin said. "We were fortunate to get Quincy out of Illinois to come on an off weekend. It's an outstanding program. Charleston, coach Robby Britt is a local guy, took them to a regional and is one of the best young coaches out there. It was an opportunity to bring him back home to East Tennessee. Challenges within our conference. There is going to be great parity. The regulars of Lee, Young Harris, Belmont Abbey.
"It is a very competitive schedule and I feel like it's what we needed with the group we have. We have a veteran group coming back. Covid did that for everybody but we had a really good fall. The optimism within our players and the program is high right now."
Diving into the numbers of the 51-game schedule Carson-Newman will play 31 home games and 20 road affairs with 24 South Atlantic Conference contests going back to the traditional three-game series. The Eagles are on track to travel 2,566 miles.
The candle gets lit for the first time on Feb. 1 against former Eagle assistant Skyler Barnett's Milligan club as part of a four-game road trek to start the season. Alabama Huntsville, the No. 5 seed in the South a year ago, hosts the Eagles for a three-game set for the first weekend.
After some time on the bus, the Orange and Blue will get cozy at home playing 18 consecutive games inside of the friendly confines of the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex. Lee, a team that was ranked in the top five nationally much of the year and third-place finisher in the South, opens the door at Mossy Creek on Feb. 8 at 2 p.m.
To close out February, the Eagles welcome Charleston who finished third in the Atlantic region for a four-game series from Feb. 18-20. Carson-Newman opens the conference calendar with a three-game series against defending national champion Wingate on Feb. 25-26.
"We have to go down to Huntsville," Griffin said. "I don't know if we have ever won down there so I don't know why we are even going down there to be honest with you. That should really prepare us because you are bringing in a national champion opening up [conference play]. Those weekends that we have will give us a good idea of where we are at."
When the nearly five-week homestand concludes against Quincy, the No. 5 seed in the Midwest, the Eagles embark on their longest road trip of the year playing six in a row away from Mossy Creek over a seven-day period. Despite the home-heavy docket, Griffin's group plays 10 of its 19 games on the road in March.
Carson-Newman's conference schedule provides the team some of the shortest rides of the season with journeys to Mars Hill, Lincoln Memorial and Tusculum before closing out the regular season at Anderson on April 22-23.
"Overnight trips are good because you are trying to build chemistry within your club," Griffin said. "That's how you develop your chemistry because you are with each other. Because of the way the schedule worked out, the trips are close enough to where we can get back home. You are staying in your own bed. We are saving a little bit of money. It is an advantage. Moving forward going into divisions, it can be helpful."
Nine of the 15 games in April are at home with midweek tussles against Shorter, the sixth seed out of the South, on April 5 and a contest against Trevecca Nazarene, the Midwest regional runners-up, on April 19.
For a seventh year in a row, the SAC Baseball Championship will be played at Smokies Stadium in Kodak, Tenn. over a five-day period, April 28 to May 2. The Orange and Blue played on the final day of the tournament for the second time in the past four seasons in 2021.
The Eagle Sports Network has wall-to-wall coverage of every pitch at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex all season featuring a video stream and exciting commentary by visiting cneagles.com/live for audio and video streams with select road outings available in audio-only form.
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