NEWBERRY, S.C. – A bid to the 2017 South Atlantic Conference Championship will be on the line when the Lady Railsplitters (23-20, 6-12 SAC) complete the regular-season schedule with a doubleheader at Newberry (29-14, 12-6 SAC) on Saturday. First pitch in game one is set for 2 p.m. at the Smith Road Complex. Game two will follow at approximately 4 p.m.
Lincoln Memorial kept its postseason hopes alive with a pair of 10-4 wins over Mars Hill on Thursday afternoon at Christian Academy of Knoxville, which moved the club into sole possession of eighth place in the SAC standings. The Lady Railsplitters will need a split against the red-hot Wolves to assure a bid to the SAC tournament. Newberry has won seven of its last eight games and is coming off of a sweep at Coker on Wednesday.
Schedule/Gameday Links:
Saturday, April 22 at Newberry
Game One (2pm) –
Live Stats
Game Two (4pm) –
Live Stats
Quick Hits:
-The Lady Railsplitters gave the Lions a 3-0 head start in game one of Thursday's doubleheader, but scattered 12 hits with five extra-base knocks to plate seven unanswered runs in the first of two 10-4 wins.
Ty-Kella Goins went 2-for-4 with four RBI and a home run, while
Meredith Johnson drove in three runs as part of a 2-for-3 performance. Three other players produced multiple hits in the contest, including
BriAnna Schrimpf, who belted a two-run home run during LMU's four-run sixth inning.
-Game two played out in nearly identical fashion, as the Lady Railsplitters fell behind 2-0 before closing on a 7-1 run to complete the sweep with another 10-4 victory. Johnson, Schrimpf and
Jennifer Moose each hit home runs for Lincoln Memorial, while Johnson added a pair of doubles and
Dakotah Fraley accounted for a double and a triple. The Lady Railsplitters racked up 13 hits, drew three walks and didn't strike out in the contest.
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Brianna Taylor earned the win in both games of Thursday's doubleheader to improve to 15-10 on the season. The junior right-hander threw a complete-game seven-hitter in game one before holding Mars Hill to just four hits and one earned run in 4.2 innings of relief in game two. The 15 wins are the most of Taylor's career and rank fifth in the South Atlantic Conference.
-The Lady Railsplitters are in sole possession of eighth place in the SAC standings, and the top-eight teams in the final standings earn bids to the SAC tournament. Lincoln Memorial is tied in the win column with Queens, who has already completed its regular-season schedule. With one win on Saturday, the Lady Railsplitters would clinch a spot in the SAC tournament, but two losses would bring the tiebreaker scenarios into effect, which could leave LMU out of the postseason.
-Fraley has been on an absolute tear during her team-best five-game hitting streak, going 12-for-19 (.631) over that span with three doubles, one triple, one home run and seven RBI. The Walkersville, Maryland native has multiple hits in all five games during her streak, which has lifted the freshman shortstop's average to .377.
-Goins extended her reached base streak to 14 consecutive games on Thursday, while
Allie Jones pushed hers to 11 straight. Goins went 4-for-8 in the doubleheader with a home run and six RBI, while Jones went 1-for-4 with two walks and three runs. Jones continues to demolish SAC pitching to the tune of a .429 conference batting average. Goins (.390) and Fraley (.385) have also crushed SAC competition.
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Ashlea Hunter has hit safely in seven of her last eight games with four multi-hit efforts over that span. The junior centerfielder went 4-for-8 against Mars Hill with two runs scored.
-The Lady Railsplitters belted five home runs against the Lions to push their season total to 40, which are the second-most in the SAC and the fifth-most in the program's single-season history. The 40 dingers are the most for Lincoln Memorial since the 2007 squad racked up a program-record 60 homers.
Notes on the Wolves:
-Newberry moved into sole possession of third place in the SAC standings by sweeping Coker on Wednesday by scores of 8-2 and 11-10. In game one, the Wolves singled the Cobras to death, racking up 12 base hits including four during their five-run fifth. Rachel Marion and Allison Van Atta went 3-for-4 to lead that effort. In game two, Newberry amassed a season-high 18 hits (15 singles) and scored six runs in the top of the seventh to rally for the 11-10 win. The Wolves' first four hitters – Christina Linton, Natalie Willis, Hailey Drawe and Haley Simonds – combined to go 9-for-17 with five RBI.
-The Wolves were swept at Carson-Newman on April 1, but have since swept doubleheaders from Queens, Wingate and Coker while also earning a split at Tusculum.
-Newberry is batting .323 with a .385 on-base percentage in SAC play, ranking second and third in the conference in those respective categories. The Wolves aren't doing a ton of damage with those hits, though, as they rank eighth in the league in slugging percentage with a .416 mark. Newberry's 21 home runs are second-to-last in the conference while their 48 doubles are the fourth-fewest.
-Willis leads the team with 59 hits and a .404 batting average. The sophomore infielder has accumulated nine doubles, one home run, 11 RBI and a team-leading 12 steals. She has hit safely in seven consecutive games.
-Simonds is the most prolific power hitter for the Wolves with a team-leading 10 doubles, eight home runs, 43 RBI, .486 on-base percentage and .693 slugging percentage. Linton has produced five home runs with five doubles and 22 RBI, while Drawe has racked up eight doubles, four triples, a home run and 27 RBI.
-The Wolves have hit just seven home runs against SAC pitching this season. Linton, Simonds and Marion lead the team with two apiece. Overall, Linton is the team's best hitter in SAC play with a .362 batting average and a .465 on-base percentage.
-Newberry is ranked fifth in the SAC in earned run average (2.77) and batting average against (.242). Devon Morrison and Emily Marchbanks have combined to throw 267.1 of the team's 283.1 innings. Morrison is 17-5 with a 2.03 ERA and 101 strikeouts over 144.2 innings, while Marchbanks is 10-9 with a 3.20 ERA and 73 strikeouts over 122.2 frames. Morrison is 7-2 against SAC teams with a 1.84 ERA.
Series History:
-The Lady Railsplitters are 13-8 all-time against Newberry, but just 5-5 on the road.
-Lincoln Memorial swept last season's doubleheader at Dorothy Neely Field by scores of 6-5 and 9-6. However, the Wolves swept the Lady Railsplitters in 2015 at the Smith Road Complex, winning 9-1 in game one before completing the sweep with a 4-3 win in game two.
-Prior to the sweep in 2015, LMU had won seven consecutive games in the series.
