AIKEN, S.C. -- A collection of four pitchers stifled the Railsplitters' (0-3) offense in an 8-2 loss to the 14th-ranked USC Aiken Pacers (3-0) in the final game of a three-game series on Sunday afternoon in Aiken, S.C.
 
After compiling 10 hits in the each of the first two games of the series, Lincoln Memorial was limited to just six hits in the finale. The Railsplitters didn't get into the hit column until Ryan Burlison (Romeoville, Ill.) and Wes Neiderland (Thompson Station, Tenn.) recorded back-to-back singles in the top of the third, but that chance did not create a run.
 
The Pacers, meanwhile, built a 2-0 lead with runs in the first and third frames. TJ Costen singled in Tyler Moore, who reached on a fielder's choice, in the first, while Moore drove in Kody Belcher with a base knock in the third.
 
The Railsplitters got a run back in the fourth on Logan Augustine's (Urbandale, Iowa) RBI single, but that inning was cut short after Augustine was gunned down trying to take second base on the play. An inning later, the Railsplitters evened the game as Danny Valdez (Orlando, Fla.) doubled, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a Neiderland groundout.
 
That would be the extent of the Railsplitters' offense, though, as USC Aiken starter Trevor Hutto and relievers Nick Yobbi, Joe Marlow and Sam Daniel would not allow a single hit over the last four innings. Eric Kalman (Brooklyn, N.Y.) was the only player to reach base for Lincoln Memorial over that span, getting on due to a two-out error in the top of the ninth.
 
Hutto picked up the win after allowing six hits and two runs with a pair of strikeouts over six innings pitched. Yobbi, Marlow and Daniel each tossed an inning apiece with no hits allowed between the trio. USC Aiken's quartet of pitchers did not issue a walk in the contest.
 
In the midst of LMU's drought, the Pacers put the game away in the bottom of the sixth with a five-run outburst. Ty Barkell tripled in the first run of the inning and scored on Costen's single to left field. Chaz Pal doubled in another run, and Cory Bryant topped off that flurry with a two-run double.
 
The Pacers tacked on another run with a home run by Moore in the bottom of the seventh.
 
Aside from that costly sixth frame in which the Pacers scored five runs on five hits, Lincoln Memorial starter Wes Todd (Franklin, Tenn.) was pretty effective against the nation's 14th-ranked squad. Todd fell to 0-1 after relinquishing eight hits and six earned runs with six K's in six innings pitched.
 
Freshman Shane Whalen (Knoxville, Tenn.) nailed down a perfect eighth inning in relief, fanning one without allowing a hit in his first collegiate appearance.
 
Neiderland and Augustine contributed the only two RBI of the game for the Railsplitters.
 
The Railsplitters were swept by the Pacers for the third time in four seasons, falling to 1-13 in the past 14 head-to-head encounters.
 
Lincoln Memorial completes its Palmetto State tour on Tuesday, February 3, paying a visit to Orangeburg, S.C. for a nonconference doubleheader against Claflin. First pitch in that twin bill is set for 1 p.m.