Eagles travel to Tusculum for first road test
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (5-0) looks to continue its perfect start to the 2026 season when it battles Tusculum (2-2) in a non-conference contest Tuesday afternoon at Pioneer Park.
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
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5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 15 | 12 | 3 |
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0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 2 |
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (5-0) looks to continue its perfect start to the 2026 season when it battles Tusculum (2-2) in a non-conference contest Tuesday afternoon at Pioneer Park.
Carson-Newman continued its early season success with a series sweep of Cedarville this past weekend. C-N used go-ahead hits in the seventh innings of the first two games and a 23-run effort in the finale to sweep the Yellow Jackets. The 23 runs were the most runs scored in a game since 2020, when the Eagles plated 20 against Limestone on March 4th. It was the fifth time under Griffin that C-N has scored 20 or more runs.
15 different Eagles have recorded a RBI through the first five games of the season. In C-N's 23-run effort vs Cedarville, 12 different Eagles drove in a run.
The Eagles start the season 5-0 for the second straight year for the first time in the program's DII history. It's just the program's third-ever 5-0 start in its DII era as well.
Last season, C-N finished with a 14-10 record on the road. It was the 14th time under head coach Tom Griffin that the Eagles have produced a double-digit win total on the road.
Logan Floyd (Adairsville, Ga.) entered the year with a 35-game on-base streak. The junior infielder has extended that streak to 40 games by reaching base in all three of C-N's wins over the weekend. The last player to have an on-base streak at 40 games or longer was Evan Jurjevic in 2015, reaching base in 43 straight games from early February to the end of April. Floyd leads the Eagles with a .600 batting average, seven RBI and a home run.
Carson-Newman's offense continues to show patience at the plate. Through five games, the Eagles have drawn 49 walks. That mark leads the SAC and is ninth nationally. C-N has also been drilled by 16 pitches, most in the SAC and 17th nationally. Overall, Carson-Newman's offense has produced 65 "freebies" through five games. Those numbers have helped produce a .512 on-base percentage to start the year, the sixth-best nationally.
Tuesday's matchup will be the 116th meeting and the first of five matchups between the two schools this season. Carson-Newman holds a 60-55 advantage and has won three of the last four. Tusculum has played well though at Pioneer Park, having won three of the last four in Greeneville.
Tusculum is in the midst of a four-game series in two days with Charleston (W.V.). The Pioneers played the Golden Eagles on Sunday afternoon, sweeping a doubleheader thanks to 9-5 and 6-0 wins. They are playing another doubleheader on Monday before Tuesday's contest. TU opened the year with a two-game set at UNC Pembroke. The Pioneers suffered two close losses, losing 6-4 and then 6-5 in extras. They led after six innings in the first loss and led after seven in the second loss.
Head coach Brandon Steele's team was selected to finish 10th in the South Atlantic Conference's Preseason Coaches' poll. TU received 45 points, 11 back of ninth and 17 ahead of 11th.
Through four games, the Pioneers offense has shown balance. 10 different hitters have recorded multiple hits but just four of them have multiple RBI. Leading the way is sophomore outfielder Jake Absher. In ten at bats, she has four hits and has drove in a team-high seven runs. Fellow outfielder Steve Scarfone has five RBI in seven at bats and has TU's only home run this season.
As a team, the Pioneers have been held to single-digit hits in each of their four games and have struck out 10 or more times twice.
On the pitching side, nine different arms have helped produce 3.98 earned run average. Three of those pitchers have tossed at least a scoreless inning. They are one of just 23 teams that has a shutout so far this season.
First pitch against the Pioneers is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. The game can be heard on cneagles.com/live. Fans can also watch the radio crew at work with a feed of press row on YouTube.
