SAC slate continues as No. 13/7 C-N visits Coker
April 3, 2025

SAC slate continues as No. 13/7 C-N visits Coker

No.13/7 Carson-Newman (26-9, 15-3 SAC) continues a five-game road stretch at the start of April as it faces off in a South Atlantic Conference series with Coker (20-15, 9-9 SAC) this weekend in Hartsville, South Carolina starting Friday at 6:00 p.m. and wrapping up with a Saturday twin bill beginning at 12:00 p.m.

C-N Game Notes (PDF)

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – No.13/7 Carson-Newman (26-9, 15-3 SAC) continues a five-game road stretch at the start of April as it faces off in a South Atlantic Conference series with Coker (20-15, 9-9 SAC) this weekend in Hartsville, South Carolina starting Friday at 6:00 p.m. and wrapping up with a Saturday twin bill beginning at 12:00 p.m.

C-N gets another opportunity to reach the double-digit win total on the road, something that has only been accomplished once in the past six seasons. Under head coach Tom Griffin, C-N has won double-digit road games 12 times and has posted a winning record on the road 11 times. The Eagles are 9-4 on the road this season and have won six of their past eight road affairs.

The Eagles were ranked seventh by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association this week, their highest ranked since moving to Division II. This is the fifth straight week that C-N has been nationally ranked in all three polls.

Griffin's club has maintained first place in the South Atlantic Conference standings since earning a series sweep of Emory & Henry at the start of the league slate. In conference games this season, Car­son-Newman is 15-3 and has won all six of the series it has played. C-N has won eight straight conference games on the road, matching a similar streak from the 2000 season. The longest road winning streak by C-N in South Atlantic Conference play was a nine-game road streak during the 1999 season.

Carson-Newman pitching has held opposing offenses to two runs or less 16 times this season. Over the past two seasons combined, C-N only did that 15 times. It's the second-most occurrences of holding an oppo­nent to two runs or less in the Tom Griffin era. During the 2008 season, Carson-Newman baseball's winning season in DII, it held opponents to two runs or less 22 times throughout a season that featured a trip to the NCAA Tournament. The Eagles have a 2.74 earned run average this conference season and have held conference foes to five runs or less in 10 straight games.

When Carson-Newman scores first, it is 19-1 this season. In 2024, the Eagles won just 10 games when scoring first.

The Eagles lead the all-time series 18-12, but were swept in last season's regular season series. Coker came to Mossy Creek and swept the final series of the regular season, holding C-N to five runs or less in all three games. Over the last ten meetings, Carson-Newman has just three wins, one of which came in the opening round of the conference tournament in 2024. Coker has won six of the past seven regular season meetings.

Carson-Newman closes the first weekend of April against another team on a losing streak. Coker enters this three-game series on a six-game losing streak. It's tied for the second-longest active losing streak in the Southeast region. Overall this season, the Cobras are 20-15 and are .500 in league play. At one point in February, Coker won ten games in a row, starting the year 12-3.

During this recent skid, the Cobras have lost their last four conference games and five of their past six. Five of the six losses during this losing streak have come by three runs or less.

Head coach Fico Kondla's team is tied for sixth place in the conference standings with 12 SAC games left to play. It is only a game and a half back of fourth place.

Jaylen Mack has been Coker's best hitter this season. He hits .407 at the plate this year and his 48 hits are 14 more than any other Cobras hitter in 2025. He has a team-best 29 RBI with Gabriel Santiago close behind with 28. Coker is one of the most effective small balls teams in the country. The team's 39 sacrifice bunts are the most in DII. Eight different batters have at least three this season. They are also a very aggressive baserunning team, their 117 steals are fifth-most nationally.

Coker's pitching staff has the third-lowest earned run average among SAC schools at 4.69. Casey Cleg­horn is the team's ace. In nine starts, he has a 3-3 record with a 3.32 earned run average in a team-high 59.2 innings.

First pitch for the three-game series is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. on Friday. The entire series will air with a free audio stream available courtesy of the Eagle Sports Network on cneagles.com/live.

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