KODAK, Tenn. -- The four-seeded Railsplitters (28-19) open the 2016 Pilot/Flying J South Atlantic Conference Baseball Championship on Friday night with 7:30 p.m. showdown against the three-seeded Tusculum Pioneers (32-15) under the lights of Smokies Stadium in Kodak, Tennessee. Here's everything you need to know:
 
SAC Championship Central - April 28-May 2
 
Friday, April 29 vs. Tusculum - 7:30 p.m. Live Stats/Video
 
Quick Hits:
-Lincoln Memorial took two of three games from the Brevard Tornados in the final series of the regular season last weekend at Lamar Hennon Field. The Railsplitters and Tornados split their Saturday doubleheader, with Brevard winning game one 4-3 and Lincoln Memorial bouncing back with a 2-1 win in game two. The Railsplitters then took the series by uncorking 20 hits in a 15-8 win in game three on Sunday, which proved pivotal. With that win, Lincoln Memorial finished tied for fourth in the SAC standings and earned the No. 4 seed for the SAC Championship by virtue of its early-season sweep over Newberry, avoiding the single-elimination portion of the tournament reserved for the five through eight seeds. 
-Left-handed pitcher Ethan Elliott (Knoxville, Tenn.) was tabbed as the SAC Freshman of the Year as well as an All-SAC first team selection on Wednesday, when the league office unveiled the 2016 SAC baseball award recipients. Elliott, who has won five straight appearances for the Railsplitters, became the LMU baseball program's first-ever SAC Freshman of the Year as well as the program's first All-SAC first team pitcher since 2009. The Catholic High School graduate leads the SAC and is tied for second in the nation with 10 wins, as he is only the second pitcher in school history to win at least 10 games in a season and the first since Scot Shields tallied a program-record 11 wins in 1996.
-The Railsplitters will be led offensively by its three All-SAC honorable mention picks: Wes Neiderland (Thompson Station, Tenn.), Eric Kalman (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and Jean Rodriguez (Caguas, Puerto Rico). Neiderland is batting .348 this season with a .545 slugging percentage, 11 doubles, six triples, four home runs and a team-leading 53 RBI, while Kalman leads the team in both hits (65) and batting average (.374). Kalman has four home runs, 35 RBI and 30 walks with a .474 on-base clip. Rodriguez is carrying a .349/.429/.500 slash line with 15 doubles, three home runs and 37 RBI.
-Freshman Joe Stucky (Powell, Tenn.) enters the SAC tournament riding a team-high nine-game hitting streak with multiple hits in four of his last five appearances. Stucky finished 6 for 10 at the plate in that three-game set against the Tornados with two RBI. The Powell, Tennessee product is batting .307 with 16 RBI and 16 runs scored this season.
-In order to make a deep postseason run, the Railsplitters will need to get junior right-handed pitcher Brandon Jean (Franklin, Tenn.) back on track. Jean is winless in his last six starts and has lasted at least seven innings in only one of those appearances. In his most recent start against Brevard, Jean allowed three hits and two earned runs over 4 2/3 innings of work.
 
Notes on the Pioneers:
-Tusculum finished tied for second place in the SAC standings, but had to settle for the tournament's three-seed after suffering a three-game sweep at the hands of the Carson-Newman Eagles on the final weekend of the regular season. The Pioneers lost that series by five combined runs, as the Eagles captured a 4-2 win in 12 innings in game one, a 5-3 win in game two and then completed the sweep with a 10-9 win in game three.
-In order to advance to the winner's bracket, the Railsplitters will have to go through SAC Pitcher of the Year Placido Torres, who leads the South Atlantic Conference in innings pitched (68), shutouts (2), strikeouts (87), strikeouts per game (11.51) and earned run average (0.93) while trailing only Elliott for the league-lead in wins with nine. The flame-throwing left-hander is ranked third in the nation in ERA and second in hits allowed per nine innings with just 4.59. The Railsplitters faced Torres in the opening game of last season's SAC tournament and he picked up the win, allowing just six hits and three unearned runs with nine strikeouts over 8 1/3 innings of work.
-The Pioneers are paced offensively by All-SAC first team outfielder Kevin Victoriano, All-SAC second team second baseman Zack Finchum and All-SAC honorable mention first baseman Creighton Wilke. Victoriano is one of the most dangerous hitters in the SAC, as he finished the regular season with a .314 batting average, 17 home runs, 14 doubles and 41 RBI. Finchum is hitting .356 this season with 10 doubles, 27 RBI and six steals, while Wilke is carrying a team-leading .369 batting average with 11 doubles, six home runs and 36 RBI.
-The Pioneers also landed Christian Raasch on the All-SAC honorable mention squad. Raasch is 7-3 this season with a 3.54 ERA and 53 strikeouts over 76.1 innings of work.
-Tusculum has been in a bit of a funk offensively of late. After hitting .310 as a team with 18 dingers in the month of March, the Pioneers are batting .288 with a .429 slugging percentage in April. The Pioneers have struck out 110 times in 15 games in April with just 13 home runs.
 
Series History:
-Due to the SAC's newly-implemented pod system, the Railsplitters and Pioneers didn't play a league series this season, but the two teams did meet up for a nonconference contest back on March 30. The Railsplitters finished with just five hits in that contest, while Tusculum scattered five extra-base hits to post a 7-1 win at Pioneer Park. Dante Key went 4 for 5 with three runs scored and an RBI, while Nick Lacina finished 3 for 4 with an RBI to lead the Pioneers. Kalman led the Railsplitters with a pair of hits.
-The Railsplitters are 3-1 all-time against Tusculum in the SAC tournament, but lost the opening game of the 2015 tournament to the Pioneers by a final of 4-3. Tusculum leads the all-time series 31-27.