Seniors take the spotlight in final home conference series
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – The final home South Atlantic Conference series of the year has arrived for Carson-Newman (24-17, 13-14 SAC) as it plays host to Coker (12-29, 9-18 SAC) in a three-game series beginning tomorrow afternoon at 2:00 p.m.
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 5 |
|
|
2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | X | 5 | 11 | 0 |
Game 1
Game 1
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 14 | 5 |
|
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | X | 9 | 10 | 0 |
Game 2
Game 2
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
|
|
0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | X | 8 | 10 | 1 |
VIDEO: C-N vs TU Cinematic Recap
VIDEO: "In the Booth" Game One
VIDEO: "In the Booth" Game Two
VIDEO: "In the Booth" Game Three
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – The final home South Atlantic Conference series of the year has arrived for Carson-Newman (24-17, 13-14 SAC) as it plays host to Coker (12-29, 9-18 SAC) in a three-game series beginning tomorrow afternoon at 2:00 p.m.
Carson-Newman will honor 13 seniors prior to the Saturday doubleheader. That ceremony is scheduled to take place at 11:20 a.m.
Trace Alexander (Douglasville, Ga.), Seth Benner (Morgantown, In), Ryan Bolton (Knoxville, Tenn.), Brock Culpepper (Murfreesboro, Tenn.), Colton Evans (Henderson, Ky), Aiden Gibson (Cleveland, Tenn.), Kylan Hornbuckle (Boaz, Ala.), McCain Mangum (Ringgold, Ga.), Eli Norris (Ringgold, Ga.), Braxton Roberts (Sweetwater, Tenn.), Jacob Rogers (Dandridge, Tenn.), James Salicco (Waxhaw, N.C.), and Bradley Soto Diaz (Davenport, Fla.) will be the 13 seniors honored on Saturday.
Just two weeks and six games of South Atlantic Conference play are left in the 2026 regular season. Three of those for C-N will be played against Coker this weekend. Six of the eight spots in the conference tournament are secured. The Eagles can clinch a conference tournament appearance with two wins this weekend. Coker is in a battle for eighth, tied with Tusculum for that spot and Anderson is one back. Other scenarios could allow C-N to clinch a tournament spot with just one win this weekend. Despite being slotted in seventh place for the last month plus of this season, the Eagles can still make a jump in the standings. They are just 2.5 games back of sixth-place Mars Hill and are four back Lincoln Memorial and Newberry who are tied for fourth.
Junior infielder Logan Floyd continues to etch himself as one of the best hitters in program history. He has 195 career hits, five away from becoming the first Eagle hitter with 200 hits since Tyler Thompson finished with 213 in 2021. Floyd has 147 career RBI and is a career .376 hitter. Floyd has also reached base safely in 24 straight games and his 18 doubles are tied for the most in the South Atlantic Conference this season. He leads the Eagles with a .416 batting average. Tyler Thompson's .438 batting average in 2019 is C-N's highest batting average in its DII history.
Junior infielder Cole Nathan has reached base safely in 29 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. During his on-base streak he has 32 hits and 22 RBI. The junior blasted his sixth home run of the year to win the series for C-N against Mars Hill over the weekend.
Carson-Newman leads the all-time series 19-14 with Coker. However, the Cobras have had the more recent success by winning eight of the last 11 meetings over the last three seasons. C-N has not won a series against Coker since 2021 and has lost each of its last two home series. Two years ago in the final home series of the year, Coker swept C-N by winning three close games.
The Cobras head to Mossy Creek with a 12-29 record and an 9-18 record in conference play. The record is certainly deceiving for this team. 19 of their 29 losses this season have come by four runs or less including their last five losses. 13 of those 19 losses by four runs or less have come in SAC play. Like C-N, Coker is 4-4 in the final month of the regular season and is coming off an impressive midweek win over UNC Pembroke 12-10 on Tuesday.
Coker has played better on the road this season. Eight of their 12 wins have come away from Hartsville. Seven of their nine league wins are on the road as well. Coker has two series wins in conference play this season, taking two of three from Emory & Henry earlier this month and sweeping UVA Wise back in late February.
Junior outfielder Gavin Johnson leads the Coker offense with a .364 batting average and a team-high 23 RBI. Five others are hitting above .300 for a team that averages just under six runs per game, the third-lowest mark in the SAC this season. Coker is last in the league in home runs with just 12 this season. They rank second in sac bunts and fourth in stolen bases.
Coker's top two starting pitchers are left-handed pitchers Casey Cleghorn and Blake Baldwin. Cleghorn has a team-high 68 innings pitched this season which includes three complete games as well. All three of his complete games are nine innings complete games and he has tossed as many as 161 pitches in a game this year. The staff's earned run average is 7.87, 10th in the SAC. Coker is sharp defensively behind their pitchers, turning the second-most double plays in the league and 10th most nationally this season.
First pitch for Friday's series opener is scheduled for 2:00 pm. 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.
