December 22, 2018

Graves unveils potent schedule for 2019

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman first-year head coach Michael Graves has announced that the Eagles’ will play seven teams that made NCAA regional play a year ago as a part of Carson-Newman’s 2019 schedule.

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman first-year head coach Michael Graves has announced that the Eagles' will play seven teams that made NCAA regional play a year ago as a part of Carson-Newman's 2019 schedule.

The challenge begins near immediately for the Eagles. Carson-Newman takes on three of those NCAA tournament foes in the first month of the season.

"We wanted to make sure we had a good strength of schedule to test ourselves," Graves said. "We definitely start off with a bang and will be tested right from the beginning. We know that once we start practice in January that we will be tested. We have a good bunch of kids and they've worked hard so far."

The Eagles are test right out of the gate with a replay of last year's Southeast Regional. Carson-Newman opens the season Feb. 1 in Milledgeville, Ga. against Young Harris before taking on Georgia College a day later. The Eagles beat GC in last year's regionals 2-1 before falling to Young Harris 7-1.

The home portion of the schedule begins Feb. 9 against Converse before taking on Concord on Feb. 13. These will be Carson-Newman's first ever games with the Valkyries. They were a paltry 3-49 a year ago. Converse went 0-16 in the month of February last year. It was outscored 388-84 on the year.

Meanwhile, this will be the seventh straight year that Carson-Newman and Concord has collided. The Eagles lead the all-time series 7-5 after splitting a doubleheader last year.

After back-to-back home games, against the Valkyries and Mountain Lions, the Eagles head to Greenwood and Due West, S.C. for a tournament that features Lander and Erskine as hosts. The Eagles play the Bearcats for the first time since 2013 while also renewing a series with the Flying Fleet that has been played continually since 2005.

Carson-Newman will also match wits with Claflin and Benedict in that tournament.

Feb. 20 sees the Eagles travel to Bristol to take on the King Tornado, one of six Conference Carolinas foes lining the schedule (Converse, Erskine, Limestone, North Greenville and Lees-McRae are the others).

"King is just getting better and better," Graves said. "They'll be really good. Limestone should also be near the top of Conference Carolinas once it's all said and done. That can only help us playing that level of competition."

The Eagles close out a busy month of February with home twin bills against Lees-McRae and West Virginia State, as well as a road trip to take on Augusta. With 16 games scheduled, February shapes up to be the busiest month of the year for the Eagles.

Carson-Newman leads the all-time series with Lees-McRae 38-2 and has won 14 straight. The Eagles will be playing West Virginia State for the first time since 2009. The Eagles and Yellowjackets are tied 2-2 in the all-time series. WVSU won the Mountain East Conference tournament title a year ago and is coming off an Atlantic Regional appearance.

"We wanted to play some northern schools just to try something different," Graves said. "We've played Concord the last several years, they're always scrappy. It made sense to add West Virginia State to the schedule. They've been good and are coming off a regional appearance."

Carson-Newman opens the month of March on the second with a trip to Limestone. The Saints are two years removed from an NCAA regional appearance. Carson-Newman takes two weeks off for spring break before opening conference play with Queens, who is fresh off a regional appearance, on March 16.

"As good as our league was last year, I think it'll be better this year," Graves said. "You know what you're getting in Lenoir-Rhyne, Coker and Queens, but then you factor in what Wingate gets back after being hit with injuries last year. Lanie did a great job with what she had to work with last year. One of the better hitting teams in the league last year was Mars Hill. Top to bottom, it's a great league."

Carson-Newman's final non-conference game is April 10 against North Greenville. The Eagles will celebrate senior day on April 19 against Newberry.

Carson-Newman plays host to Coker March 30 and travels to Lenoir-Rhyne April 6 to round out the slate of games against foes who made last year's post season tournament.

All home games and select road games will be broadcast on the Eagle Sports Network at cneagles.com/live.

Feb. 01, 2019	vs. Young Harris @ Milledgeville, Ga.	4:00 PM
	vs. Young Harris @ Milledgeville, Ga.	6:00 PM
Feb. 02, 2019	at Georgia College	11:00 AM
	at Georgia College	1:30 PM
Feb. 09, 2019	Converse	1:00 PM
	Converse	3:00 PM
Feb. 13, 2019	Concord	1:00 PM
	Concord	3:00 PM
Feb. 15, 2019	at Lander	12:30 PM
	vs. Claflin @ Greenwood, S.C.	3:00 PM
Feb. 16, 2019	vs. Benedict @ Due West, S.C.	10:00 AM
	at Erskine	12:00 PM
Feb. 20, 2019	at King (Tenn.)	1:00 PM
	at King (Tenn.)	3:00 PM
Feb. 21, 2019	Lees-McRae	1:00 PM
	Lees-McRae	3:00 PM
Feb. 23, 2019	West Virginia St.	12:00 PM
	West Virginia St.	2:00 PM
Feb. 26, 2019	at Augusta	1:00 PM
	at Augusta	3:00 PM
Mar. 02, 2019	at Limestone	1:00 PM
	at Limestone	3:00 PM
Mar. 16, 2019	at Queens (N.C.) *	1:00 PM
	at Queens (N.C.) *	3:00 PM
Mar. 20, 2019	Lincoln Memorial *	2:00 PM
	Lincoln Memorial *	4:00 PM
Mar. 23, 2019	Catawba *	1:00 PM
	Catawba *	3:00 PM
Mar. 27, 2019	at Anderson (S.C.) *	2:00 PM
	at Anderson (S.C.) *	4:00 PM
Mar. 30, 2019	Coker *	1:00 PM
	Coker *	3:00 PM
Apr. 02, 2019	Tusculum *	2:00 PM
	Tusculum *	4:00 PM
Apr. 06, 2019	at Lenoir-Rhyne *	2:00 PM
	at Lenoir-Rhyne *	4:00 PM
Apr. 10, 2019	North Greenville	2:00 PM
	North Greenville	4:00 PM
Apr. 13, 2019	at Wingate *	1:00 PM
	at Wingate *	3:00 PM
Apr. 16, 2019	at Mars Hill *	2:00 PM
	at Mars Hill *	4:00 PM
Apr. 19, 2019	Newberry *	1:00 PM
	Newberry *	3:00 PM