Eagles eye first win over Mountain Lions Wednesday
YOUNG HARRIS, Ga. – Having fallen short in each of the first seven meetings against Young Harris, Carson-Newman hops on the bus to face off with the Mountain Lions at Zell B. Miller Field on Wednesday for a 3 p.m. first pitch.
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YOUNG HARRIS, Ga. – Having fallen short in each of the first seven meetings against Young Harris, Carson-Newman hops on the bus to face off with the Mountain Lions at Zell B. Miller Field on Wednesday for a 3 p.m. first pitch.
Wednesday is the eighth time that Carson-Newman (20-17) will face off with Young Harris (28-11) aiming for its first win. In the first seven meetings, the Eagles have lost by a pair of runs twice with the Mountain Lions scoring double-digit runs four times and at least seven in each of the first six games.
When the teams clashed on Feb. 28, the clubs combined for five home runs with the Mountain Lions blasting three to overcome a 6-3 deficit through six scoring seven times in the final three innings to come out victorious 10-7. It was the first loss of the season as Young Harris snapped a string of no runs over a 23 1/3 inning stretch before taking the lead in the second.
The Eagles held a 15-13 edge in the hits column and held the Mountain Lions to 2-for-13 hitting with runners in scoring position. Five players registered a multi-hit game but the six through nine batters combined to go 2-for-19. Trey Miller (Rocky Point, N.Y.) finished a double shy of the cycle with his fourth multi-hit game of the year. Mitchell Balint (Avondale, Pa.) tallied a 2-for-3 day with three RBIs with two runs scored.
After winning a program-record 39 games and taking down eighth-ranked Columbus State for the Peach Belt Tournament crown, the team's second in three years, in 2022, the team was ranked in the top 25 of the NCBWA poll last week for the first time in its history.
Coach Stephen Waggener's team is just off of the pace for the top slot in the Peach Belt with one more win but two more losses than USC Aiken to hold onto second in the standings. The Mountain Lions took two out of three against USC Aiken at the end of March and swept eighth-ranked Columbus State two weeks ago. The group closes the year with series against USC Beaufort and Lander, two teams towards the bottom of the table.
Young Harris has lost back-to-back games three times on the campaign and enters the midweek contest winners of nine of the last 11. Over that time, the group has racked up double-digit runs seven times and is outscoring its foes by 77 runs holding teams to four or fewer runs eight times.
Proven by the first meeting, the Mountain Lions are one of the elite offensive teams in the country ranked top 25 in scoring (8.7), doubles (79), hits (391), total runs (339) and stolen bases (84). The group has lost one time in 24 tries when scoring at least seven runs, an 8-7 loss at Lincoln Memorial on March 22. When being held to six runs or fewer, the unit is 5-10.
Eight players have knocked in at least 20 runs this year led by Jeremy Begora who is hitting .364 with 11 bombs and 45 RBIs leading the conference in run production and second in long balls. He has 10 multi-RBI days including a two-homer, seven RBI effort against Columbus State on April 1.
On the mound, the group ranks No. 18 nationally in team ERA with a 3.90 tally for the year. Despite not recording a shutout to date, 13 teams have scored either one or two runs and only three have put up double figures. The team has allowed seven or more runs nine times with three coming against teams from the South Atlantic Conference including a season-high 13 by Tusculum on Feb. 21.
Wednesday's game will air on the Eagle Sports Network with an audio stream available on cneagles.com/live.
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