ROME, Ga. -- The Railsplitters (18-8) put up multiple runs in each of the first five innings to power a 14-3 walloping of the Shorter Hawks (10-17) on Wednesday afternoon in NCAA Division II baseball action in Rome, Ga.
 
Lincoln Memorial, which pounded Shorter 27-8 in the first meeting between the two teams on March 9 at Lamar Hennon Field, scattered 10 hits in the ballgame and chewed through eight different Hawk pitchers to hang up double-digit runs for the 14th time this season.
 
The bottom half of the Railsplitters' batting order did most of the damage, as Wes Neiderland (Thompson Station, Tenn.) and Russell Clark (Wexford, Pa.) combined for seven RBI out of the five and six spots in the lineup, while Mason Ewers (Kingsport, Tenn.), Joe Stucky (Knoxville, Tenn.) and Seth Hunt (Knoxville, Tenn.) record two hits apiece out of the seven, eight and nine spots. Hunt finished with a pair of doubles and two RBI to lead that trio.
 
Freshman Peter Pratti (Knoxville, Tenn.) picked up his first collegiate victory after allowing just three runs and five hits over five innings of work. Grant Painter (Knoxville, Tenn.) and Jake Watkins (Powder Springs, Ga.) preserved the victory by combining for four nearly perfect innings of relief. Painter had five strikeouts and didn't allow a hit over three innings of work, while Watkins surrendered just one hit and had two strikeouts in his inning on the mound.
 
The Railsplitters scored early and often against the Hawks' razor thin pitching staff, hanging up two runs in each of the first four innings before bringing four runs home in the top of the fifth.
 
Neiderland drove in a run with a single in the top of the first, while Clark plated another in that inning with a sacrifice fly out. An error and a sac fly from Logan Augustine (Urbandale, Iowa) accounted for two more LMU runs in the top of the second and put the Railsplitters in front 4-0.
 
The Hawks trimmed Lincoln Memorial's lead in half in the bottom of the second on an RBI fielder's choice by Jerry Liang and a run-scoring groundout by Jacob Ramos, but the Railsplitters erased that with Hunt's two-run double in the top of the third.
 
Shorter scored its final run of the game in the bottom of the third thanks to a two-out, RBI-single from Greg Gladden, but the Railsplitters would score eight unanswered runs to race away from the Hawks.
 
The Railsplitters' four-run fifth inning was the highlight of that closing stretch, as Lincoln Memorial hung up a four-spot despite recording just one hit in the frame. Two wild pitches allowed two runs to score in that inning, while Neiderland recorded an RBI fielder's choice and Clark drew a bases-loaded walk.
 
Lincoln Memorial went quietly in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings, but added two more runs to its total in the top of the ninth on an RBI fielder's choice from Neiderland and a run-scoring walk by Clark.
 
Shorter produced just six hits in the contest. Gladden led that effort by going 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored. Liang was saddled with the loss for the Hawks after allowing five earned runs and four hits in 2 2/3 innings of work.
 
The Railsplitters are back in action on Friday, as they begin a three-game nonconference set against Davis & Elkins at Lamar Hennon Field. That contest is scheduled to get underway at 4 p.m.