HARROGATE, Tenn. – The Lincoln Memorial University baseball team (18-9, 5-7 SAC) hosts Carson-Newman (17-10, 9-3 SAC) for a pivotal South Atlantic Conference Series at Lamar Hennon Field on Friday and Saturday. The Railsplitters struggled offensively in a series loss at Newberry last weekend but are 4-2 at home in SAC play. The Eagles are coming off a three-game home sweep over Anderson and are 5-1 on the road against SAC opponents.
 
Schedule/Game Day Links:
 
Friday, March 23 (4 p.m.) - Live Stats
Saturday, March 24 (1 p.m.) - Live Stats
Saturday, March 24 (4 p.m.) - Live Stats
 
Quick Hits:
 
- The Railsplitters came from behind Tuesday to defeat Erskine 8-7 for the second time this season. LMU scored six unanswered runs to overcome a 7-2 deficit to win. Chris Salvey finished 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles while Will Reddick and Mason Ewers had two singles apiece. Ewers and Seth Hunt each drove in two runs, and Timmy Wages scored twice.
 
- Lincoln Memorial used a Wages three-run shot to beat Newberry 3-2 in last Friday's SAC series opener against Newberry. Ethan Elliott pitched a season-high 8.2 innings and struck out 10 batters for the fourth time in seven starts. The lefty allowed two earned runs on seven hits and didn't walk anyone to improve to 3-2. Chase Randolph retired the final batter to pick up his second save.
 
- The Railsplitter bats went cold Saturday as Newberry swept the doubleheader 11-1 and 2-0 to take the series. Newberry outhit LMU 14-5 in the first game to snap a nine-game losing streak to the Railsplitters. Joe Bobiak had his shortest outing of the year at 2.2 innings and allowed five runs—all earned.
 
- LMU was held to just four hits in the seven-inning nightcap and was shut out for the first time in 2018. Newberry had just three hits, but two helped put the Wolves ahead 1-0 in the third. Dominic Morabito only allowed two runs—one earned—in five innings but was dealt the loss to fall to 1-3. The righty struck out four but walked a career-most six batters.
 
- Lincoln Memorial's four runs were its lowest total ever in a three-game South Atlantic Conference series.
 
- Augustine has gone just 1-for-12 over his past four games to fall out of the SAC lead in batting average. Tyler Adams now holds that honor at .398. Augustine is still batting .385 and leads the team outright in hits (37) and stolen bases (8). He is tied with Adams for the most runs scored (32). Augustine has reached safely in 25 of 27 games on the year.
 
- Adams was held off the base paths for the first time this season on Saturday to snap his 27-game on-base and 14-game hitting streaks. In addition to having the highest batting average, the sophomore shortstop leads the SAC in doubles (14) and on-base percentage (.526). His 14 doubles ranked second nationally as of March 18.
 
- Wages has connected for seven of the team's 24 home runs. Augustine is the only other Railsplitter (5) with more than two.
 
- Lincoln Memorial averages 8.96 runs and 11.22 hits per game for the season. Those totals increase to 11.00 runs and 12.87 hits at home. The Railsplitters have totaled at least 10 hits in 16 of 27 games overall and 10 of 15 at home.
 
- The Railsplitters as a team have batted .379 at home compared to .261 on the road. On-base percentage is over 100 percentage points higher (.470-.365) while slugging percentage is over 200 points better (.578-.377).
 
- LMU pitching has been solid for the most part with a SAC-best 3.98 ERA, though the team is fifth with a 4.88 mark in SAC play. Starting pitchers are a combined 12-4 with a 3.45 ERA.
 
- Lincoln Memorial pitching has a collective 3.12 ERA at home and 5.09 on the road.
 
- The team has collected 224 strikeouts through 221.1 innings (9.11 K/9). Elliott leads with 59 strikeouts in 45.1 innings. Dominic Morabito has 35 in 26.1 innings.  
 
Notes on Carson-Newman:
 
- The Eagles are tied with Wingate atop the SAC with a 9-3 record.
 
- Carson-Newman fell at King 8-5 on Tuesday. The Eagles lost in Bristol for the first time since 1991 to get swept in the season series after also losing at home to King 11-6 on February 27.
 
- Carson-Newman swept Anderson last weekend. Dillon Cate tossed a career-high 7.2 innings with nine strikeouts to improve to 3-1 on the year in Friday's 9-6 win. Ethan Goforth went 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles and three RBI. Jordan Griffin homered and drove in three. John Sharpe also homered.
 
- The Eagles scored their most runs since 1988 in a 26-12 demolition of Anderson in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader. Carson-Newman only had 15 hits but was issued nine free passes and benefitted from seven Trojan errors. The Eagles also stole seven bases. Jordan Griffin tallied five RBI while Micah Genter drove in four. 
 
- Snapp homered twice and drove in five runs as Carson-Newman cruised to a 9-1 win in the nightcap to complete the sweep.
 
- The Eagles have stolen a SAC-best 57 bases. Brett Langhorne leads the conference with 16 while Goforth is fourth with 12. Langhorne has a SAC-most six in conference play while Goforth is tied for second with five.
 
- Carson-Newman pitching leads the SAC with 10.32 strikeouts per nine innings. Pitchers have accumulated 260 strikeouts—tied for most in the conference—in 226.2 innings. Cate is tied with Elliott for the conference lead with 59 strikeouts and leads all starting pitchers with 12.45 K/9. Dalton Long also averages over 10 strikeouts per nine innings with 41 in 36.1 innings.
 
- Despite pitching exclusively in relief, Greg Valentine leads the conference with a 6-0 record.
 
- Will Gardner has struck out 36 batters in 21.2 innings for a 14.95 K/9. He is tied for the conference lead with seven saves.
 
Series History:
 
- Lincoln Memorial leads the series 30-26 over Carson-Newman since 1994. The Railsplitters are 19-10 when playing the Eagles at home and 19-9 in conference play.
 
- The Railsplitters have won eight in a row in the series and 14 of 17 since 2012.
 
- The Eagles haven't won a three-game series over LMU since 2011.