BRISTOL, Tenn. – The Railsplitters (17-15, 8-4 SAC) face off against the King Tornado (12-17, 3-9 Conference Carolinas) for a midweek nonconference match-up on Wednesday at the King Baseball Field. Lincoln Memorial knocked Catawba from atop the South Atlantic Conference by taking two of three over the weekend. Meanwhile, King fell to last place in its conference by losing two out of three at home to Erskine. The team also plays a nonconference game Tuesday against the University of Charleston in Beckley, W.V.
 
Schedule/Game Day Links:

Wednesday, March 29 (3:30 p.m.) - Live Stats | Video
 
Quick Hits:

- Lincoln Memorial outslugged high-powered Catawba with 10 home runs in the series. Timmy Wages launched three—one in each game—and Logan Augustine and Nate Stinson each hit a pair. After totaling 19 home runs through their first 26 games, the Railsplitters have launched 15 over the past six games.

- Augustine went 5-for-8 in the Catawba series and reached base safely in 11 of 14 plate appearances. He is second nationally with 43 runs scored and tied for ninth with 27 walks. He also is second in the SAC in slugging percentage (.730) and fourth in on-base percentage (.500). Augustine's eight home runs and 10 stolen bases also lead the team and are already career highs.

- Since beginning the year batting just .118 through his first eight games with a plate appearance, Seth Hunt has hit .446 (29-for-65), including a 6-for-6 performance March 11 at Lenoir-Rhyne to set a new program record for hits in a game, to tie Augustine for the best batting average on the team at .378. He also owns a .436 mark in SAC play.

- Mason Ewers has crushed nonconference competition to the tune of a .432 average, 27 RBI and all five of his home runs. He leads the team in hits (43) and RBI (35) but has hit just .239 with a team-high 17 strikeouts in SAC play.

- Wages was not hit by a pitch in the Catawba series but is still tied for first nationally with Columbus State's Turner Vincent with 17 hit-by-pitches. This has aided his .522 on-base percentage, which is the second-best total in the SAC. The Moline, Illinois native was tabbed as the AstroTurf SAC Player of the Week on Tuesday.

- Lincoln Memorial scored in the first inning in both victories in the Catawba series, which marks 18 times in 32 games. Despite outscoring opponents 40-20 in the first inning thus far, the Railsplitters improved to just 8-10 in games they have scored in the first. The team has an 9-10 record when scoring the game's first run.
 
Notes on the Tornado:

- King dropped Friday's series opener to Erskine 5-4. Catcher Anthony Hunt hit a two-run homer and drove in three of King's four runs in the loss.

- Preston Douglas hit a two-run home run in the first inning of game two as the Tornado jumped ahead of Erskine 4-1 and held on to win 5-2. Mark Hendricks allowed one earned run in seven innings to pick up the win.

- Erskine scored four runs in the first inning of Saturday's rubber match and cruised to an 8-3 win to take the series.

- The King pitching staff has struggled to a 6.55 ERA on the season. Hendricks' 4.87 ERA is the best amongst starting pitchers. The only other Tornado with an ERA below 6.00 and more than one appearance is reliever Brandon Barbour. He has a 3.07 ERA across 14.2 innings and nine relief appearances.

- Despite the high ERA, King's pitching staff has shown the ability to strike out batters with 216 in 220 innings. Eight pitchers with at least five appearances average at least one strikeout per inning.

- J.R. Castaneda leads Tornado hitters in average (.345) and doubles (7).

- King has only hit 16 home runs in 29 games. Dylan Sligh and Tyler Bailey are tied for the team lead with three apiece.

- Bailey and Braden Cook have each swiped 10 bases for the Tornado. The rest of the team has combined for just 15 stolen bases.
 
Series History:

- The Railsplitters lead the all-time series 23-20-1 but are just 6-11-1 in Bristol.

- The one tie came February 19, 2016. The game was called after 10 innings with the teams tied 6-6 due to darkness.

- Although Lincoln Memorial leads the all-time series, King has won 19 of the past 26 matchups dating back to 2002.

- Lincoln Memorial won 17 of the teams' first 18 meetings from 1994-2002.