HARROGATE, Tenn. – The Railsplitters open their home schedule at the new Lamar Hennon Field with a three-game set against the Ohio Valley Fighting Scots (1-2) this weekend. Lincoln Memorial (2-2 dropped two of three at USC Aiken despite leading in each game and concluded its road trip with a 21-4 thrashing at Claflin. Meanwhile, Ohio Valley won its season-opener at Montevallo 4-1 but was held to one run in each of the next two games.
 
Schedule/Game Day Links:

Friday, February 9 (DH at 1 pm)
Game One: Live Stats
Game Two: Live Stats

TBD
Game Three: Live Stats
 
Quick Hits:

- The Railsplitters dropped their season opener 2-1 to USC Aiken in walk-off fashion. Ethan Elliott was brilliant with 10 strikeouts over six shutout innings, but the Pacers scored both of their runs in the bottom of the ninth. Logan Augustine drove in LMU's only run with a sac fly in the seventh inning.
 
- Lincoln Memorial won game two of the series 6-3 behind a Timmy Wages home run, Tyler Adams' 3-for-4 performance with a pair of doubles and three runs scored and a strong LMU debut on the mound from Joe Bobiak, who held USC Aiken to two runs over 6.1 innings and struck out eight. Jake Grenus, who also made his LMU debut, pitched the final 2.2 innings to pick up his first save.
 
- LMU took an early 3-0 lead in the rubber match but saw that evaporate as USC Aiken scored 10 unanswered runs to eventually win 10-5. Dominic Morabito took a no-hitter into the fifth inning, but the bullpen allowed nine runs over the final three innings. A leadoff single in the bottom of the fifth ended Morabito's no-hit bid and the righty's day. He allowed a single earned run in five-plus innings, walked three and struck out six.
 
- Railsplitter pitchers accumulated 34 strikeouts over the three-game series led by Elliott's 10. LMU batters struck out 31 times.
 
- Lincoln Memorial's offense came to life with 21 runs, 23 hits and five home runs in the team's most recent game Monday at Claflin. Five Railsplitters recorded at least three hits led by Wages' 4-for-4, three-RBI performance. He also walked twice to reach in all six plate appearances, homered twice and scored five times. Augustine, Henry Moore and Grady Wright also homered. Matt Mullenbach held the Panthers to three runs—two earned—over six innings and struck out eight to pick up the win.
 
- Augustine reached safely in all four games to extend his on-base streak to 30 games. The NCBWA Preseason All-American is off to a relatively slow start with just a .267 average (4-for-15) with the one home run and three RBI.
 
- Wages leads the Railsplitters in several offensive categories including hits (6), home runs (3), runs scored (6) and total bases (16).
 
Notes on Ohio Valley:

- Ohio Valley University started its season on a positive note by taking game one of its three-game series at Montevallo 4-1. Nicholas Shower pitched 5.1 shutout innings and only allowed one hit and picked up his first win of the year. All four runs were scored in the top of the sixth on a pair of two-run hits.
 
- The Fighting Scots scored their only run in the top of the first inning on an RBI double play, but that lead quickly evaporated as Montevallo scored twice in the first, third and fifth innings. Ryan Valentine allowed six runs (four earned), and Ohio Valley only mustered four singles in game one of the doubleheader.
 
- Dion Felger only allowed a leadoff home run to Montevallo over five innings of work but took the loss as the Fighting Scots fell 2-1 in the rubber match. The team's only run came on a passed ball in the eighth inning.
 
- Ohio Valley hit just .170 as a team, and only two of the Fighting Scots' 16 hits went for extra bases. The team struck out 14 times in each of the first two games and 39 times total in the series.
 
- DH Nicholas Villazon Jr. went 3-for-9 and totaled three of the team's five RBI. Matthew Houser drove in the other two runs but went just 1-for-7.
 
- Ohio Valley posted strong pitching performances in two of the three games and totaled a 2.16 ERA in the series. Only Valentine posted an ERA higher than 2.45 of the seven pitchers that made an appearance.
 
Series History:

- The Fighting Scots travel to Harrogate for the fourth straight year. The Railsplitters won two of three in last season's series but had their eight-game winning streak over Ohio Valley snapped in the series finale. LMU won the first two games 16-2 and 7-3 but dropped the finale 3-2 despite leading 2-0 after the first inning.
 
- Mason Ewers recorded multiple hits and RBI in all three games of the series and finished the weekend 6-for-12 with 12 RBI. Wages went 4-for-10 over the three games with three RBI.
 
- Lincoln Memorial is 21-6 all-time against Ohio Valley with all 27 meetings taking place in Harrogate. The Railsplitters have never lost a series to the Fighting Scots but have split twice—in 2005 (four games) and 2009 (two games).