C-N opens April with home series versus No. 19 Wingate
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – For the third time this season, Carson-Newman (20-13, 10-11 SAC) will play host to a ranked South Atlantic Conference foe as it welcomes No. 19 Wingate (26-9, 16-5 SAC) to the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex for a three-game series starting Friday afternoon at 2:00 p.m.
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
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0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 13 | 19 | 2 |
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0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 7 | 1 |
Game 1
Game 1
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0 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 15 | 13 | 4 |
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0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 16 | 16 | 3 |
Game 2
Game 2
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0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 9 | 0 |
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0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 9 | 2 |
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – For the third time this season, Carson-Newman (20-13, 10-11 SAC) will play host to a ranked South Atlantic Conference foe as it welcomes No. 19 Wingate (26-9, 16-5 SAC) to the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex for a three-game series starting Friday afternoon at 2:00 p.m.
Carson-Newman has played host to #6 Lenoir-Rhyne and #3 Catawba already at home this season. The Eagles are 1-5 against ranked teams this season. Under Griffin, C-N is 40-78 against ranked competition, with 26 of those wins coming in Mossy Creek.
Carson-Newman enters the final month of the regular season having won 11 of its past 13 games including seven of its last nine South Atlantic Conference games. The Eagles got back to .500 in conference play by winning the second game of the Newberry series, but the Wolves rallied to win the series finale to push C-N a game back of .500 in the league again.
Carson-Newman has spent the past three conference series' in seventh place in the league, but winning those series' has put the Eagles in striking distance to make a move up the standings. Entering the weekend, The Eagles are 2.5 games back of sixth, four games from fifth, five games from fourth and 5.5 games away from third. The top eight teams in the SAC standings qualify for the conference tournament.
The Eagles have one of the top pitching staffs in the South Atlantic Conference. They have a team earned run average of 4.88, the second-lowest mark in the league. C-N pitching is coming off a season-high 13 strikeout performance versus King in Tuesday's home win. Among starting pitchers, Kolton Casson has the lowest ERA at 2.45 in eight starts. The reigning SAC Pitcher and Freshman of the Year is 6-2 and has 45 strikeouts in 44 innings. He is tied for the league lead with three complete games. Among relievers, Kyle Adams leads the way. The redshirt-freshman has not allowed a run in first eight career appearances on the mound. In his past five outings, Adams has either recorded a save or a win.
Junior infielder Cole Nathan has reached base safely in 21 straight games, the longest on-base streak by a player for C-N this season. It's a career-long on-base streak for Nathan as well.
This weekend's series between the Eagles and Bulldogs will be just the second home series for C-N against Wingate in the last seven seasons. Wingate's only trip to Jefferson City since 2017 was in 2022, they were the top-ranked team in the country and swept C-N. Carson-Newman has lost the past four series to WU, with the program's last series win being a sweep of the Bulldogs in 2017.
Wingate has been one of the most improved clubs from 2025. The Bulldogs are 26-9 overall, having already matched their win total from last season entering April. They went 26-26 last season. Wingate's won all but two conference series' this season, having dropped two of three to first-place Catawba and third-place Lenoir-Rhyne. The Bulldogs have series sweeps over Emory & Henry, UVA Wise, Tusculum, and Coker. The only series that have won, that they have not swept is taking two of three from Mars Hill at home.
They have won 13 games each at home and on the road this season. The Bulldogs are 13-6 on the road but have lost three of their last four games on the road. Their only two series losses in SAC play are on the road this season.
Wingate's offense has been a major part of its success this season. WU has drawn a DII-best 228 walks, averaging more than six per game. Gavin Groppuso leads the team with 42 walks, second-best in DII. When they draw those walks, WU has made teams pay. Wingate leads the conference in base hits with 402, eighth-most in DII this season. Those hits have resulted in the Bulldogs averaging 10 runs per game. They also lead the conference in stolen bases with 76 this season. Wingate has scored double-digit runs in 20 of their 35 games this season.
Wingate also has one of the best starting pitchers in the league this season. Redshirt-junior Chad Harvey has a 7-0 record in nine starts, posting a league-low 2.29 ERA among starting pitchers. His 48 strikeouts are second-most in the league. As a club, WU has just a 6.13 ERA and leads the conference in hit batters with 69 this season.
First pitch on Friday afternoon is set for 2:00 p.m. A video stream of the weekend series is available with a subscription to FloSports at cneagles.com/flobase. 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.
