Griffin unveils C-N’s travel-friendly 2026 slate
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – With just over a month away from Carson-Newman baseball’s 2026 season, it is time to release the travel-friendly schedule for the upcoming season.
2026 Carson-Newman Baseball Schedule
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – With just over a month away from Carson-Newman baseball's 2026 season, it is time to release the travel-friendly schedule for the upcoming season.
C-N will leave the Volunteer State for just four of its first 24 games. For the year, it will play 36 of its 51 scheduled games in Tennessee.
Similar to last season, Carson-Newman will get a healthy portion of home games in the first two weeks, playing six of its first seven games at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex. The Eagles will play host to Charleston (W.V.) for a three-game series on opening weekend for the second consecutive year, followed by a home series with Cedarville. The matchup with the Golden Eagles falls on January 30th, the program's earliest start to a season since 2004. Since 1990, C-N has only played one game in January.
"Anytime you are playing at home, you feel like the odds are in your favor," Carson-Newman head coach Tom Griffin said. "Having the first two weekends at home is beneficial and the quality of competition that we are playing. Charleston is always one of the top teams in their region. Right off the bat we are going to get a competitive opponent. Those first two weekends will be key for sure."
Every non-conference midweek game is with a team that C-N played in 2025, starting with a road trip to King on February 3rd. Carson-Newman will play home and away non-conference games with Alabama Huntsville, Lee, King, Shorter, Trevecca Nazarene and Tusculum.
"All of those coaches are the same, there hasn't been much turnover with those teams we are playing," Griffin said. "I think the reason you schedule teams like that is one, because of competitiveness, two is the culture of the program we play. These are quality people that we play against. I don't want our team to have to deal with a bunch of the stuff that takes place at certain places. We want to go compete and appreciate each other afterwards. I really respect a lot of these teams."
The 2026 schedule does have some interesting components to it. Despite having a fairly equal slate of 27 home and 24 away games, C-N has more stretches of home games than on the road. Carson-Newman's longest road trip of the year is a five-game stretch in the middle of February, starting conference play at Lincoln Memorial with out of league games surrounding that series. All other road stretches do not last more than four games, and as a result the Eagles have five and eight-game homestands. The eight-game homestand is headlined by consecutive conference series at home with Newberry and Wingate to end March and enter April. The five-game home stand comes shortly after, hosting Coker in mid-April with non-conference matchups surround that as well. Overall, 12 of the final 18 games in 2026 are at home.
"That definitely helps," Griffin said. "Some of those clubs offensively fit our park better than we do. That's what we tried to take care of this fall. I think its great to be at home though. Especially for the families, so they can get here. It's definitely a big advantage because we know our park better than anyone else."
On the topic of home games, that's what makes this 2026 slate very friendly for the Eagles. C-N's longest conference road trip of the season is at the end of February against Anderson. The Eagles play host to Catawba, Coker, Lenoir-Rhyne, Newberry, Wingate, many of whom have been the best teams in the conference over the last decade. The conference road series are with Anderson, Emory & Henry, Lincoln Memorial, Mars Hill, Tusculum and UVA Wise.
"It's competitive," Griffin said. "It's a good league with great coaches, who do things the right way. The league is very competitive and when you look at the teams that have moved on, they've done quite well in regional play and beyond."
The South Atlantic Conference Tournament begins on May 1-3 with a double-elimination tournament at the site of the top two league teams. The winners will convene for a championship series on May 8-9 in a best of three competition.
The Eagle Sports Network has coverage of every pitch at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex all season long, featuring a video stream on FloSports with a subscription. An audio-only stream is available at cneagles.com/live with select road outings available.
