MOUNT OLIVE, N.C. -- Lincoln Memorial could not overcome a dominating pitching performance and two solo home runs by second-seeded and No. 6 North Georgia (43-10) as the Nighthawks dispatched the Railsplitters (33-18) 4-1 in the opening round of the NCAA Southeast Regional on Thursday afternoon at Scarborough Field. Seventh-seeded Lincoln Memorial will face sixth-seeded Georgia College in the tournament's first elimination game Friday at 11 a.m.
 
Brandon Jean (Franklin, Tenn.) held the nation's highest-scoring team to four runs over seven-plus innings and tied a season high with 10 strikeouts. The senior righty allowed nine hits, including a pair of solo home runs, and walked two. He took the loss—his first in his last nine starts—to fall to 8-4 on the year.
 
Seth Hunt (Knoxville, Tenn.) recorded three of Lincoln Memorial's five hits, including a double in the third inning. The rest of the team went just 2-for-26. Nate Stinson (Jonesboro, Ga.) singled in the third and scored the team's lone run. Muta Crusoe (Bellwood, Ill.) doubled in the fourth for Lincoln Memorial's only other hit.
 
Dylan Peppers, a NCBWA All-Region honorable mention pick, stymied the Railsplitters all afternoon on his way to the complete game win. The righty struck out eight Railsplitters over his nine innings and did not allow a hit after Hunt's fifth-inning single. The only base runner he allowed in his final 4.2 innings was a walk to Logan Augustine (Urbandale, Iowa) in the eighth.
 
Conner Corbitt and Bill Leroy connected for solo home runs as part of two-hit days. Corbitt later drove in another run on a single. Trevor Sams also enjoyed a two-hit game and drove in the team's other run.
 
Lincoln Memorial took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third but could not solve Peppers again. Stinson singled and Hunt doubled with one out to put runners on second and third. Mason Ewers (Kingsport, Tenn.) then grounded to the shortstop to score Stinson.
 
North Georgia tied the game in the bottom half of the inning on Sams' two-out single to left. Corbitt homered to lead off the fourth to put the Nighthawks up for good.
 
Leroy homered to lead off the sixth inning to put the Nighthawks up 3-1.
 
Corbitt singled in another insurance run in the eighth off Chase Randolph (Harriman, Tenn.) after Jean departed following Sams' leadoff double.
 
Peppers only needed four pitches to record the final three outs as Timmy Wages (Molin, Ill.), Eric Kalman (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and Crusoe all flied out.
 
The Railsplitters remain winless all-time (0-3) in the Southeast Regional. Georgia College, Lincoln Memorial's next opponent, eliminated the Railsplitters in 2013 with a 12-0 drubbing.