Eagles open 2026 with doubleheader versus Charleston (W.V.)
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Opening Day has arrived in Mossy Creek! Carson-Newman begins the 2026 season with a Friday afternoon doubleheader with Charleston (W.V.) starting at 11:00 a.m. at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex.
Game 1
Game 1
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 3 |
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0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | X | 9 | 10 | 1 |
Game 2
Game 2
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 2 |
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1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | X | 5 | 6 | 0 |
VIDEO: 2026 Carson-Newman Baseball Roster Video
VIDEO: 2026 Carson-Newman Baseball Hype Video
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Opening Day has arrived in Mossy Creek! Carson-Newman begins the 2026 season with a Friday afternoon doubleheader with Charleston (W.V.) starting at 11:00 a.m. at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex.
Carson-Newman will play baseball in January for the first time since 2004. Since 1990, C-N has played just one game in the first month of a new calendar year. The lone game was a 5-1 win on January 31st, 2004, against USC Aiken.
Since Carson-Newman joined Division II in 1994, the Eagles are 28-4 in home openers including 18-2 under Griffin since he took over in 2006. Carson-Newman's 17-0 victory on opening day against King this past season was the most runs scored in a season opener since 1990. It was the largest margin of victory by C-N since defeating Limestone 18-1 on March 29, 2016. The Eagles offense was clicking on all cylinders, scoring 17 runs on 16 hits while also drawing 12 walks. Five different hitters had multi-hit days while three had multi-RBI efforts.
The Eagles have won 13 straight home openers with their last loss in a lid lifter at home coming on Feb. 21, 2012 when King (Tenn.) took home a 10-7 victory.
Carson-Newman baseball was picked to finish third by the coaches in the South Atlantic Conference, after finishing third in the league in 2025. The preseason ranking is C-N's highest projected finish since 2011 and just the fifth time in the past 20 seasons it has been picked third or higher. C-N collected a program-best 21 wins in SAC play and produced its best winning percentage in SAC play in school history to finish in third place. In 2025, The Eagles won 37 games, their fourth-most in the program's DII era to make the program's fifth-ever NCAA Tournament.
Four different Eagles have been recognized this preseason. Junior infielders Logan Floyd and Cole Nathan earned preseason All-SAC honors along with sophomore pitcher Kolton Casson. Casson has also earned NCBWA preseason All-Southeast region honors and was named a D2 Baseball preseason First Team All-American. Ryan Higgins joined Casson as a D2 Baseball preseason All-American, being named to the second team.
Carson-Newman leads this all-time series 4-1, and has won three straight contests by scoring 12 runs or more in each of the wins.
Charleston finished another season above .500, posting a 26-25 record this past season. Their strong play in Mountain East Conference action was a big reason for that, winning 20 of their 30 league games. At the conference tournament, the Golden Eagles won their opening round game before losing a pair of games on the same day to Frostburg State and Fairmont State to be eliminated.
In the eleven-team MEC league, Charleston was selected first in the South division preseason poll. The Golden Eagles earned eight of the 11 first-place votes and was seven points ahead of Concord for first.
Charleston's best hitter in 2025 was freshman Collin Kemp who returns for his sophomore season. The freshman infielder led the team with a .373 batting average and was on last year's club with 50 hits. Trent Dosenbach was another standout freshman, hitting .319 in 41 starts last season. He drove in 18 runs and hit four home runs. Samuel Lemond returns for his senior year after hitting .314 at the plate in 45 starts. Overall, Charleston returns three of its top five hitters from 2025.
On the pitching side, the Golden Eagles do not return three pitchers that started nine or more games last season. Drew Fletcher is one of the more experienced arms returning, pitching in 11 games last season and posting a 5.63 ERA.
First pitch is set for 11:00 a.m. from the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex. The game can be heard on cneagles.com/live with live video available on the Eagle Sports Network with a subscription to FloSports at cneagles.com/floBase. Fans can also watch the radio crew at work with a feed of press row on YouTube.
