September 22, 2016

Griffin adds Haeberle and Roberts to baseball’s coaching staff

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman baseball coach Tom Griffin announced Monday morning that Lee Haeberle and Brandon Roberts have been added to his coaching staff for the 2017 season.

Haeberle comes from East Tennessee State University where he was a starting pitcher. In 2016, the Hendersonville, Tenn. native led the squad in games started with 15, strikeouts with 90 and innings pitched with 79.1 while posting a 4-4 overall record. On May 19, Haeberle struck out eight batters in 5.2 innings in an 11-2 victory over The Citadel. The right-hander earned his third victory of the season over eight four-hit innings against Furman on April 2 when he struck out five in a 6-5 win.

The first-year coach was a member of the 2015 Southern Conference Academic Honor Roll. Prior to his time in Johnson City, Haeberle was a two-time Pitcher and Player of the Year honoree at Dyersburg State Community College.

During the summer of 2016, he was the pitching coach for the Fulton Railroaders of the Kentucky-Illinois-Tennessee League, a summer collegiate league. During his time in Kentucky, Haeberle managed the pitching staff deciding on starting pitchers and pitching changes while logging statistical information.

"Lee has the junior college experience that we recruit heavily," Griffin said. "He had the chance to play with two people we know very well, Tony Skole and Chris Gordon, and he came with a high recommendation. He is enthusiastic about the coaching profession."

Roberts joins the staff after an illustrious career at Mossy Creek that led to a stint with the Normal Cornbelters of the Frontier League.

The Davie, Fla. native was named a second-team all-region selection by the American Baseball Coaches' Association (ABCA), the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) and the Division II Collegiate Commissioners Association (D2CCA) on top of being a first-team All-South Atlantic Conference pick and Gold Glove winner.

Roberts is the third C-N third baseman to earn a first-team All-SAC nod and the first since Derrick Lankford in 1996. The senior ranks in the top-10 in the conference in hits (71 – 5th), batting average (.368 - 9th), RBIs (54 – 6th), slugging percentage (.622 – 9th) and total bases (120 – 8th). On March 1, Roberts was named the SAC and Tennessee Sportswriters' Association Player of the Week as he became the first C-N player to earn the SAC honor since Kevin Franchetti won on March 5, 2013. He began the year on a 17-game hitting streak and has notched 20 multi-hit games and 14 multi-RBI outings.

The third baseman tallied a .944 fielding percentage tallying 117 assists, second among players at the hot corner and ninth in the league while being a part of nine double plays.

Roberts joined Brandon Burchfield as the only two players to be named CoSIDA Acadmeic All-district as Burchfield was an All-American in 2006 and 2007. The Davie, Fla. native excelled in the classroom piling up a 3.54 GPA while studying in the Carson-Newman Communications School with a major of Media Studies.

"Brandon knows the culture having been a four-year starter," Griffin said. "He will help us transition the new guys into the culture we are looking to have at Carson-Newman. He has done it all in the program and earned a chance to play professionally. He will make a great addition to our staff."

Going through offseason workouts over the next couple weeks, the Eagles begin their season on Feb. 3 with a three-game series at North Georgia.

- CN -