HARROGATE, Tenn. – Winners of five in a row and 15 of 19, the Railsplitters (24-16, 13-5 SAC) will battle Newberry (28-15, 13-5 SAC), who just had their 11-game win streak snapped but have won 16 of their past 19, this weekend. The Wolves have won eight straight SAC contests to move into a four-way tie atop the conference with Lincoln Memorial, Catawba and Tusculum. This will be the final series played at Lamar Hennon Field, as the Railsplitters end their season at Anderson and will move to the their new stadium for 2018.
 
Schedule/Game Day Links:

Friday, April 14 (4 p.m.) - Live Stats
Saturday, April 15 (1 p.m.) - Live Stats
Saturday, April 15 (4 p.m.) - Live Stats
 
Quick Hits:

-The Railsplitters scattered 17 hits against King Wednesday, which marks the fourth straight game the team has put up double-digit hit totals. Seth Hunt (Knoxville, Tenn.) and Dalton Dedas (Louisville, Ky.) recorded three hits apiece, while Mason Ewers (Kingsport, Tenn.), Russell Clark (Wexford, Pa.), Timmy Wages (Molin, Ill.) and Tyler Adams (Woodstock, Ga.) each added two more base knocks. Every starting position player scored at least one run.

- The Railsplitters moved into a four-way tie for first place in the South Atlantic Conference with their sweep of Carson-Newman last weekend. Catawba, Tusculum, Newberry and Lincoln Memorial all sit atop the conference with a 13-5 record. The Railsplitters have already beaten Catawba and Tusculum in series this year. Catawba and Tusculum will also face off against each other over the weekend.

- Brandon Jean (Franklin, Tenn.) won his fifth straight start in Lincoln Memorial's 8-2 series-opening victory over the Eagles Saturday with his first career nine-inning complete game. The senior righty struck out 10 and improved to 6-3 on the year. The outing continued Jean's stellar conference performance as he improved to 5-1 with a 3.57 ERA against SAC competition.

- The Railsplitters overcame a 7-0 deficit in the fifth inning of Sunday's series finale with 19 unanswered runs to sweep the Eagles and move into a tie for first place in the South Atlantic Conference standings. Every Railsplitter starter recorded at least one hit for the second straight game as the team set a new season high with 21. Augustine hit his first career grand slam in the fifth to jump start Lincoln Memorial's nine-run rally, and Muta Crusoe (Bellwood, Ill.) launched a two-run homer later in the inning to put the Railsplitters ahead for good at 9-7. Adams went 4-for-4 with three RBI, while four more Railsplitters added three hits apiece. Augustine reached base four times, going 3-for-5 with the grand slam and scored four runs. Wages also reached base four times and drove in five runs. Chase Randolph (Harriman, Tenn.) picked up the win in relief as he held Carson-Newman scoreless over 4.1 innings of work.

- Augustine enjoyed a big weekend against Carson-Newman with a walk-off single Saturday and his first career grand slam Sunday. The junior went 7-for-13 for the series with six RBI. He scored five runs over the weekend and added another Wednesday to improve his total to 55 for the season, which ranks in the top three nationally and is already tied for the sixth-best total in program history. Augustine also ranks in the top five in the SAC in home runs (11; third), RBI (41; tied for fifth), walks (30; fourth), on-base percentage (.495; fifth) and slugging (.734; third). In addition, he leads the Railsplitters in average (.385), hits (55), doubles (13) and stolen bases (10). He has reached base safely at least once in 39 out of 40 games on the year.

- Since beginning the year batting just .118 through his first eight games with a plate appearance, Hunt has hit .408, including a 6-for-6 performance March 11 at Lenoir-Rhyne to set a new program record for hits in a game. He went 3-for-3 Wednesday against King to raise his average to .367, which is the second-best mark on the team.

- Wages took over the team lead in RBI with a back-to-back five-RBI performances Sunday against Carson-Newman and Wednesday against King. Of his 47 total, which ranks second in the SAC, 26 have come in 18 conference games. He was also hit by a pitch Saturday for the 19^th time, which ranks second nationally. This has aided his .518 on-base percentage, which is also the second-best mark in the SAC.

- Adams went 7-for-10 over the weekend and 2-for-3 Wednesday to extend his hit streak to 10 games and raise his batting average to .352 overall. His .397 average in SAC play is second on the team behind Augustine, and the freshman has 21 RBI in 17 conference games. Over his past 14 games, he has hit .451 (23-for-51) with 20 RBI, which includes five instances in which he drove in at least three runs in a game.

- Lincoln Memorial has scored in the first inning 22 times in 40 games. Despite outscoring opponents 49-24 in the inning thus far, the Railsplitters are 11-11 in games they have scored in the first. The team has a 14-11 record when scoring the game's first run.
 
Notes on the Wolves:

- Newberry had its 11-game win streak snapped Wednesday by No. 22 USC Aiken but still sports an eight-game conference win streak. The Wolves are a combined 13-2 against SAC foes Brevard, Carson-Newman, Mars Hill, Wingate and Coker but were swept by fellow first-place counterpart Tusculum. Of the five SAC series the Wolves won, .500 Mars Hill is the only team not to have a losing conference record.

- Newberry has scored the most runs in the SAC with 334 and averages the second-best runs per game behind Catawba at 7.67 but has hit just seven home runs on the year, which ranks last in the conference. The Wolves' 220 walks are the most in the conference, and the team is second in hits with 440. Newberry's 72 stolen bases are also the second-best total in the SAC.

- Daymon Totherow has hit safely in 18 of his last 19 contests, batting .438 over that span. He leads the Wolves with 56 hits and a .372 average. His 18 stolen bases also lead the team and are tied for the second-best total in the SAC. Totherow's .433 average in SAC play is also second in the conference, and his nine stolen bases are tied for the best total.

- Only three of Newberry's seven home runs have come in SAC play. Derek Olenchuk, Jeff Sneed and Ben Herring have connected for one apiece. Herring's two round trippers lead the team.

- Onenchuk leads the Wolves with 41 RBI, with 20 coming in 18 conference games. Trejon Smith is one behind at 40, but only 11 have come in conference play.

- Zack Kelly leads the Newberry pitching staff with a 6-3 record and 79 strikeouts in 62.2 innings. The senior righty sports a 3.45 ERA for the season but owns a 4.89 mark in SAC play. He has allowed at least four earned runs in four of his past five conference starts and has walked at least four batters in three of four but also averages over eight strikeouts per start against SAC opponents.

- Evan Estridge is 4-1 on the year with a 3.17 ERA, including marks of 3-1 and 2.80 in conference play. The freshman righty is undefeated in his past four starts and allowed three runs in
five innings Saturday in the team's 14-4 win over Coker.

- Tristan Smaltz made his first career start Saturday in the team's 7-0 series finale over Coker and held the Cobras scoreless over five innings with five strikeouts. The freshman lefty is 3-1 with a 0.77 ERA in 23.1 innings across 10 appearances.

- Six different Newberry pitchers have earned a save this season. Charlie Fessler leads the team with six, which is the second-best total in the conference. Five other players have picked up one apiece.
 
Series History:

- The Railsplitters lead the all-time series 19-12, which includes a 9-5 record in home contests and 17-12 in SAC matchups.

- Lincoln Memorial swept the 19^th-ranked Wolves at Newberry in 2016 and has won the last four meetings overall. Augustine went 6-for-12 in last year's series with a double, triple and four RBI.

- Newberry won two of three matchups the last time these teams met in Harrogate in 2015.