KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The Lady Railsplitters (23-20, 6-12 SAC) combined for 20 runs, 25 hits and five home runs to sweep a South Atlantic Conference doubleheader from the Mars Hill Lions (12-28, 5-13 SAC) on Thursday afternoon at Christian Academy of Knoxville. With its first conference sweep of the season, Lincoln Memorial moves into eighth place in the SAC standings with one regular-season doubleheader remaining.
 
The Lady Railsplitters rallied from an early 3-0 deficit in game one, scoring seven unanswered runs to capture a 10-4 victory. In nearly identical fashion, Lincoln Memorial fell behind 2-0 in game two, but rallied again to notch another 10-4 win. 
 
Ty-Kella Goins, Meredith Johnson, Dakotah Fraley and BriAnna Schrimpf all enjoyed big days at the plate for the Lady Railsplitters. Goins went 4-for-8 with six RBI and a home run, while Johnson finished the twinbill 5-for-6 with five RBI, three doubles and a homer. Fraley compiled four hits, four runs, two doubles, two RBI and a triple, while Schrimpf hit a pair of two-run home runs to rack up four RBI.
 
Brianna Taylor (15-10) picked up a pair of wins in the circle. She tossed a complete-game seven-hitter in game one before allowing just a single earned run over 4.2 innings of relief in game two.
 
Lincoln Memorial swept its fourth consecutive doubleheader against Mars Hill to extend its winning streak over the Lions to eight games. The Lady Railsplitters improved to 31-21 in the all-time series.
 
The Lady Railsplitters close out the regular season on Saturday with a trip to Newberry, South Carolina to face the Newberry Wolves for a SAC doubleheader beginning at 2 p.m. LMU will need a split to earn a bid to the SAC tournament.  
 
Game One: Lincoln Memorial 10, Mars Hill 4
 
After falling into a three-run hole right from the jump, the Lady Railsplitters erupted for 12 hits, including five extra-base knocks, to rally for the victory.
 
Five players finished with multiple hits for Lincoln Memorial, who won the first game of a SAC doubleheader for just the second time this season. Goins went 2-for-4 with a four RBI and a home run, Schrimpf went 2-for-3 with two RBI and a homer, and Johnson knocked in three runs as part of a 2-for-3 performance that included a double. Fraley and Ashlea Hunter also added two hits apiece.
 
Taylor struggled early, but allowed just one hit after the third inning to notch her 14th win of the season. Taylor threw a first-pitch strike to 26 of the 31 batters she faced, allowed seven hits and struck out two in the complete game.
 
Casey Stanek was the lone Mars Hill player with multiple hits in the contest, finishing 2-for-3 with a run scored. Hannah Smith drove in a pair of runs and had a double. Sydney Elkin (7-8) was saddled with the loss after allowing 12 hits and 10 runs (eight earned) over 5.2 innings of work.
 
A pair of errors helped the Lions hang a crooked number on the scoreboard in the top of the first. A dropped pop fly put leadoff hitter Cassidy Dahle on base for Addison Harris, who doubled to drive in the first run of the game. Stanek's bunt single and steal then put two runners in scoring position, and both runners scored on another infield error to make it 3-0.  
 
The Lady Railsplitters undid the damage and brought the game back level in the bottom of the second. Hunter and Allie Jones sandwiched singles around Jacie Pittman's walk to load the bases for Johnson, who roped the first pitch she saw down the line in right to bring all three runners home and tie the game, 3-3.
 
Mars Hill answered right back and regained the lead in the top of the third, as Smith laced a double off the wall in left field before scoring on Krista Romine's bunt single.
 
After that, the Lady Railsplitters ended the game by scoring seven unanswered runs.
 
Lincoln Memorial took its first lead of the game in the bottom of the fourth, using four hits to bring three runs home. Pittman sparked the rally with a leadoff double over the centerfielder's head, and Johnson followed with a single two batters later. With two outs on the board, Fraley connected on a double into the gap in left center to tie the game. Goins followed that with a two-run single to make it a 6-4 game.
 
The Lady Railsplitters put the game away in the sixth. After the first two batters were sat down quietly, Fraley dropped a single into left field to extend the inning for Goins, who belted her team-leading eighth home run of the season to straightaway centerfield. An error on a grounder hit by Jennifer Moose kept the inning alive for Schrimpf, who demolished the first pitch of the at-bat over the centerfield wall for her third homer of the year.
 
Game Two: Lincoln Memorial 10, Mars Hill 4
 
The second game mirrored the first as the Lions took the lead early before the Lady Railsplitters surged with a 7-1 closing run.
 
Once again, five players finished with multiple hits for the Lady Railsplitters, who scattered 13 as a unit.
 
Johnson went a perfect 3-for-3 with two doubles, two RBI, a home run and two runs scored, while Teddi Collins and Goins had two hits and two RBI apiece. Fraley went 2-for-3 with an RBI, two runs scored and a triple, while Hunter produced her second two-hit game of the day.
 
Smith and Cassidy Dahle were the only Mars Hill player with multiple hits. Smith finished 2-for-3 with an RBI, while Dahle went 2-for-4 with a pair of singles. Taylor Lail drove in two with a home run.
 
Freshman Justice Smith lasted just 2.1 innings in the start, allowing three hits and three runs over that span before Taylor took over. Taylor earned her second win of the day after allowing just four hits and one earned run over 4.2 innings of relief.
 
The Lions jumped out to an early lead in the top of the second as Romine drew a one-out walk to set the stage for Lail's two-run home run, which came on an 0-2 pitch.
 
The Lady Railsplitters quickly erased that deficit by scoring two runs of their own in the home half of that inning. Hunter led off with a bunt single and moved to second on a sac bunt. After a walk was issued to Jones, Johnson roped a double into the gap in right center to put Lincoln Memorial on the board. Collins singled in the next at-bat to tie the game.
 
Mars Hill regained the lead on Ragan Broome's solo home run in the top of the third, but Moose crushed the first pitch she saw in the bottom of that inning over the scoreboard in left center to draw the game back even at 3-3.
 
Johnson kick-started another big inning that put the Lady Railsplitters ahead for good with a leadoff home run in the bottom of the fourth – her fourth of the season. Goins added an RBI single later in the inning in front of Schrimpf, who launched a towering two-run home run over the line of trees in left field to make it a 7-3 game.
 
Lincoln Memorial busted the game wide open in the fifth, scoring three more runs on three hits. Jones drew a one-out walk to spark the rally and Johnson followed with her third double of the afternoon. Collins brought the first run in with a sac fly, and Fraley drove in another with a triple down the right-field line. Goins capped the inning with an RBI single to extend the lead to 10-3.
 
The Lions got a run back in the top of the sixth as Stanek led off with a double and scored on Smith's single back to right field, but that would be all that Mars Hill would get the rest of the way.