Carson-Newman Baseball Position Previews: Pitchers and Catchers
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Our final Carson-Newman baseball position preview breaks down the team’s pitchers and catchers with help from senior pitcher Jackson Underwood.
VIDEO: Jackson Underwood Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Our final Carson-Newman baseball position preview breaks down the team's pitchers and catchers with help from senior pitcher Jackson Underwood.
In his first season with Carson-Newman, Underwood was a Swiss army knife, pitching in 17 games and posting a 3.43 era in 57 2/3 innings. His first eight career outings with C-N were out of the bullpen, where he posted a 2.29 ERA in 19 2/3 innings. Underwood a scoreless innings streak at 6 2/3 innings in mid-February. Out of need, he was moved to a starting role in mid-March and went on to make nine starts through the rest of the year. As a starting pitcher, Underwood had a 4.03 ERA in 38 innings.
"Came out of the bullpen at first and I'm good with either option," Underwood said. "Whether it is starting or coming out of the bullpen, whatever the team needs. Being in the bullpen is different than being a starter, but at the same time you just have to throw strikes. We had a really good defense last year and I just felt like if I attacked the zone they would get outs for me. As a starter, I had to build up the necessary endurance in my first couple outings, but overall it worked out well."
Including Underwood's production, C-N returns 70 percent of its innings from 2025 and none more valuable than Kolton Casson's. The consensus All-American as a freshman returns for his sophomore season, after tying the program record for wins in a season and leading all of DII with 13. The SAC and Southeast Region Pitcher of the Year tossed 95 2/3 innings, the sixth-most in a season in C-N's DII era, finishing the year with six complete games, tied for the second-most in school history. 12 of the rookie's 15 starts were quality starts and he struck out at least six batters in more than half of his outings."
Another strong starting option returns with Casson in junior Ryan Higgins. An injury cut his season short, but when the Spotsylvania, Virginia native pitched he was nothing short of excellent. Higgins posted a 0.83 ERA in 43 1/3 innings, the lowest earned run average by a pitcher (minimum 25 innings) in program history. As C-N's game one starter, Higgins made eight starts going 5-1 with 45 strikeouts and allowed just four earned runs. His first three starts were all scoreless outings, starting the year with 22 2/3 consecutive innings of scoreless baseball.
Based on number of innings pitched that returns, next in line is Christan Henderson. The right-hander fired 37 1/3 innings, making six starts in 10 outings. Henderson tossed just the program's third nine-inning complete game for the program in the past seven seasons and the first midweek non-conference complete game in a decade.
"We push each other everyday," Underwood said. "Whether that is picking each other's brain about stuff, pitch grips or just even how you feel on the mound. Stuff like that is beneficial to all of us. I'm an older guy but I learn stuff from them all the time. I'm really excited for that group and I think we can be even better than last year."
Eli Norris is an All-Region reliever that returns to the Eagles bullpen in 2026. He made 19 appearances and posted a 1.80 earned run average in 20 innings on the mound. Norris' ten saves were the eighth-most nationally. The right-hander struck out 27 batters and walked 15.
Bransen Angel, Brock Culpepper and Braxton Roberts are all arms with multiple years of experience.
Angel has pitched 51 innings the past two seasons and is coming off a 2025 season where he finished with a 6.88 era. The junior was most effective out of the bullpen, posting a 2.25 ERA in eight outings as a reliever.
Nobody on this C-N staff has more appearances than Culpepper's 41. He has a career 7.81 earned run average in his near 81 innings of work.
Roberts was effective in limited work in 2025, pitching in just 8 1/3 innings but tossed seven scoreless innings over his final seven outings of the year.
"Those guys are awesome," Underwood said. "All of those guys had great seasons last year and I know Brock kind of came end toward the end of the year. Coming back from winter break, you can really tell that guys put the work in. It's a bigtime for us because technically when you are home its all on your own. You can tell they are ready to go with their mindset and are ready to compete."
Aaron Bobo, Cameron Butler, McCain Mangum, James Salicco and Denver Slifka have all been in the program for at least a year, but are still waiting for their first opportunity for game action.
A trio of freshman will look to make their mark in 2026. Drew Fletcher joins C-N from Marvin Ridge high school in Waxhaw, North Carolina, Gavin Griner is from Oxford high school in Holly Pond, Alabama and Alec Wilson joins the C-N staff from Baxter, Tennessee.
"Coming in as a freshman it's almost like a new game," Underwood said. "You are playing the same game but it's a different way of doing things here. I really saw a lot of development from guys like Gavin, Drew and Alec. Those guys just come in and compete. I know they are freshmen but it doesn't feel that way when they are on the mound. When they went out there and threw their stuff with confidence in the fall, it worked out well for them."
Despite nearly two thirds of its innings back from 2025, C-N did graduate its top two catching options Nick Castellana and Frankie Delgado.
Opportunity awaits for four or five players to see time behind the dish. The most experienced option that returns is redshirt-sophomore Carson Cochran. He missed all of 2025 with an injury, but played in 13 games and had 21 at bats during the 2024 season.
Jameson Van Ness and Jacob Rogers both saw their first career game action in 2025. Both recorded just one at bat, and played in six and five games, respectively.
Among the available transfer options is Kevin Hammond. The Keller, Texas native spent the past two seasons at Lipscomb University. With the Bison, he appeared in six games off the bench and had two at bats after redshirting in 2024.
Tanner Kilgore could be in this catching mix as well, but he has not caught in his first two seasons despite spending time there in high school.
"Nick and Frankie were big for us last year," Underwood said. "They were older guys that had been in the program, so they knew their way about things. Coach Griffin always talks about how a catcher is like a pitcher's best friend. They almost have to know their stuff better than the pitcher does. Once we get that bond with all of them, you trust them to call the pitches and that's big for your confidence and for the team."
Carson-Newman opens the doors to the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex next Friday January 30th, at 2:00 p.m., starting a three-game series with Charleston (W.V). Every home game can be heard on cneagles.com/live with live video available on the Eagle Sports Network.
