SAC Tournament run begins with Cobras
Seventh-seeded Carson-Newman (23-24) begins its South Atlantic Conference Tournament run with a matchup against the second-seeded Coker Cobras on Friday evening at 6:30 p.m. from Tom J. New Field on the campus of Coker.
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
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1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 15 | 1 |
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2024 South Atlantic Conference Baseball Tournament Bracket (PDF)
HARTSVILLE, S.C. – Seventh-seeded Carson-Newman (23-24) begins its South Atlantic Conference Tournament run with a matchup against the second-seeded Coker Cobras (31-18) on Friday evening at 6:30 p.m. from Tom J. New Field on the campus of Coker.
Carson-Newman (23-24) has won four SAC Championships (1992, 1993, 1997 and 2007) since the tournament began in 1991. Catawba (8) and Wingate (7) are the only schools with more titles. Tusculum has also won four trophies.
The Eagles hold a 58-51 record in the league tournament with this season being the second time since 2015 that the postseason is not played in full at Smokies Stadium and the first year the championship series will not be played there as well. Carson-Newman has won a SAC Tournament game in three consecutive seasons. The program is 17-11 in tournament games held in South Carolina playing in the Palmetto State for just the second time since 2007, the last time the Eagles hoisted the trophy winning five games including three on the final day.
The regular season champion has won the tournament title 14 times in 32 tries while the top four team has won all but two championships. Wingate was a five seed in 2015 and finished the SAC regular season with a 15-15 mark. In 2000, Lenoir-Rhyne was sixth in the regular season, going 13-10 before marching to grab the hardware. The Eagles are aiming to become the lowest seeded team to win the title in conference history.
After a weekend sweep of C-N to end the regular season, Coker has now won six of the last seven meetings in this series. It'll be the first time since 2015 that C-N will play the team it ended the regular season with, in the first game of the conference tournament.
Friday's opening round game will be just the second time the two schools meet in the SAC Tournament. The first meeting was in 2017, a 4-3 victory for Carson-Newman. Will Gardner threw a complete game and Brett Langhorne drove in the go-ahead run in the 8th inning to seal the opening round win at Smokies Stadium.
Since 2015, Carson-Newman has only played four games in the month of May. The Eagles are 1-3 in those games and will play in May for the first time since 2017 as well.
Grif Hughes (Knoxville, Tenn.) has eight wins on the mound this season, tying him with five other pitchers for the sixth-most wins in a single-season in program history.
Hunter Harritan (Huntersville, N.C.) continues to climb the single season record books in two separate categories. His ten saves this season are the fourth-most in a single-season, two away from tying Will Gardner and John Butler for second place. Harritan has a 2.23 ERA which currently sits as the sixth-lowest mark in a single-season among those who have pitched at least 25 innings.
The Cobras are 31-18 overall and won 20 league games to earn the second seed and host one of the two brackets in the conference tournament. Fico Kondla's team is on its way to the program's first winning season since 2016. Coker was picked to finish ninth in the SAC preseason poll. It begins postseason play having won eleven of its last 15 games.
The Cobras present one of the most aggressive baserunning groups in all of DII. The squad has swiped 163 bags, the second-most nationally, averaging more than three per game. Eight different players have double-digit steals led by Jacob Yarberry who has 24 and has only been caught stealing three times. It's a small ball caliber offense that has the second-most sac bunts in the SAC and has hit just 16 home runs this season.
Coker's pitching staff held C-N to just 11 runs in the three-game series over the weekend. Aaron Diaz is 6-3 this season in more than 72 innings on the mound and has a 3.64 ERA.
This side of the bracket also features the number three seed Wingate and six seed Newberry who will match up in the opening round. All of the games will take place at Tom J. New Baseball field in Hartsville.
First pitch tomorrow evening is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Fans can listen along with the action at cneagles.com/live. A video stream of the contest is available with a subscription to Flo Sports.
