HARROGATE, Tenn. – The Lincoln Memorial University baseball team concludes its regular season with a three-game series with South Atlantic Conference rival Mars Hill beginning Friday evening at Lamar Hennon Field. The Railsplitters (28-18, 12-12 SAC) won a wild road series at Catawba last weekend and topped King 10-6 at home on Wednesday. The Lions (21-23-1, 10-14 SAC) have won seven of their past nine SAC games and 14 of 17 overall but dropped two of three at home to Anderson last weekend before rebounding for a 17-4 victory over Bluefield State on Wednesday.
Schedule/Game Day Links:
Friday, April 20 (4 p.m.) -
Live Stats
Saturday, April 21 (1 p.m.) -
Live Stats
Saturday, April 21 (4 p.m.) -
Live Stats
Quick Hits:
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Tyler Adams led LMU's 10-6 win over King on Wednesday by going 3-for-5 with a home run and two doubles. The sophomore shortstop also scored and drove in three runs and stole a base.
Timmy Wages also went deep. Four Railsplitters—Wages,
Seth Hunt,
Will Reddick and
Nate Stinson—added two hits apiece. Reddick, Wages and Stinson tallied two RBI apiece while Hunt, Reddick and Wages each scored twice.
- Last weekend's series win over Catawba evened Lincoln Memorial's record at 12-12 in SAC play and moved the team into a three-way tie for fifth place heading into the final series.
- Hunt extended his hitting streak to 16 games and has been on an absolute tear in April with a .545 average (24-for-44) over his past 12 games. In that span, the junior has hit all three of his career home runs, driven in 16 of his 27 RBI on the year and raised his batting average from .276 to .347. He has also scored at least one run in eight straight games.
- Salvey is tied for fourth with eight home runs in SAC play and has 11 overall. Wages has gone deep 10 times while Adams has hit eight. LMU's 55 round-trippers rank fourth in the SAC. Salvey's .809 slugging percentage would stand as a program record.
- Adams has 20 doubles—one behind the program single-season record—and is second in the conference. He has taken over the SAC lead in runs scored at 56 with seven in his past three games.
- The Railsplitters are 20-8 at home with an 8-4 mark in SAC play and have won all four home conference series. LMU is 8-10 on the road and 4-8 in SAC games after winning its first SAC road series of the year at Catawba. The team reached 20 home wins for the first time since 2007 on Wednesday.
- The Railsplitters as a team have hit .344 at home compared to .286 on the road. On-base percentage (.440-.384) and slugging percentage (.541-.449) are also significantly higher at Lamar Hennon Field.
- Lincoln Memorial has recorded a double-digit hit total in 27 of 46 games, including 16 of 28 at home. The team is batting .320 overall—second in the SAC to only Catawba's .321. LMU's .313 mark in SAC play ranks behind Catawba (.348) and Newberry (.330) and Tusculum (.317).
- Railsplitter pitching has a 5.15 ERA overall with a 5.30 mark in SAC play. Both rank fourth in the conference. Pitchers have a collective 4.71 ERA at home and 5.83 on the road.
- LMU has an 8.41 ERA in 12 April games. The team posted solid ERAs of 4.20 in February and 3.87 in March.
- Railsplitter starting pitchers have accumulated a 18-8 record with a 4.48 ERA in 46 games and have struck out 230 batters in 225.0 innings. Relievers have collectively posted a 6.13 ERA.
- Elliott leads all SAC starting pitchers with a 2.61 ERA, 96 strikeouts and 76.0 innings pitched and is tied with
Joe Bobiak for second in the league with six wins. The lefty has posted a double-digit strikeout total six times in 11 starts. He needs seven strikeouts to break Brad Reeder's program-record 102.
- LMU's .969 fielding percentage stands as the best in program history. The team's 50 errors are seven fewer than the next-lowest total of 57 set in 2015.
Notes on Mars Hill:
- The Lions' recent hot streak has put the team into a tie with Anderson for the eighth and final spot to qualify for the SAC Championship. The Trojans won the head-to-head matchup by taking two of three last weekend.
- Anderson took last Friday's series opener 15-12 and game one of Saturday's doubleheader 18-7. The Lions salvaged a game with a 5-4 win in the seven-inning nightcap.
- Mars Hill beat Bluefield State 17-4 on Wednesday to finish 15-7-1 at home. The Lions are just 6-16 on the road and have won just one SAC road series—a three-game sweep at Carson-Newman. Mars Hill is 2-7 in its other away SAC games.
- The Lions lead the SAC with 72 home runs—10 more than second-place Catawba. Both teams are tied with 41 homers in conference play. Christian Stampler is second in the conference with 16 home runs and is tied for fourth with eight in SAC games.
- Mars Hill also leads the league with 88 stolen bases, though the team only ranks fourth with 26 in SAC play. Josh Hall leads the team in that category with 17, but only five have come against SAC opponents.
- Mars Hill's .283 team batting average is ninth in the 10-team league. The team has struck out the third-most times overall and has the second-highest total in SAC games.
- The team enjoyed hitting at home to the tune of a .324 average, 51 home runs and 235 runs scored in 23 games but has struggled on the road with a .238 average, 21 home runs and 109 runs scored in 22 games.
- Matt Honeycutt is sixth in the SAC with a .394 average and leads all players with a .437 average in conference games. He has hit 14 home runs and is tied for second with nine coming in SAC play.
- The Lions are third in runs scored behind Lincoln Memorial and Catawba both overall and in SAC play.
- Mars Hill's team ERA of 6.35 ranks seventh in the conference. The team's 6.60 ERA in SAC games is eighth.
- The team has pitched better on the road with a 5.34 ERA compared to 7.23 at home.
- Starting pitchers have a combined 12-6 record and 5.16 ERA in 45 games. Relievers are 9-17 with an 8.21 ERA.
Series History:
- LMU is 18-15 all-time against the Lions with a 10-7 mark in Harrogate.
- The team last met in 2016 at Mars Hill with the Lions taking two of three.
- The Railsplitters are 11-6 against the Lions since 2010.
