KODAK, Tenn. – The Lincoln Memorial University baseball team begins its South Atlantic Conference Championship title defense with a rematch of last year's championship game against Carson-Newman (27-20) Friday night at 8:30 p.m. at Smokies Stadium. The Railsplitters (31-18) concluded their regular by winning seven of their final eight games and swept Mars Hill to earn the No. 4 seed and a first-round bye in the double-elimination tournament. Meanwhile, Carson-Newman swept Tusculum in its final three games to hold onto the No. 3 seed. The Eagles finished one game ahead of LMU with a 16-11 record in league play, though the Railsplitters won the regular-season series by taking two of three in Harrogate in late March.  
 
Schedule/Game Day Links: 

Friday, April 27 (8:30 p.m.) - Live Stats | Video
 
Quick Hits: 
 
- The Railsplitters swept their way through last year's SAC Championship with wins over Tusculum (11-7), Newberry (13-0), Catawba (10-6) and Carson-Newman (9-4). Timmy Wages was named the SAC Championship Most Valuable Player by going 7-for-15 over the four games with a home run, six RBI and six runs scored.
 
- LMU has won the SAC Championship twice: 2017 and 2013. The Railsplitters beat Carson-Newman in the championship game by a score of 9-4 both times.
 
- Ethan Elliott became the first Railsplitter to earn SAC Pitcher of the Year honors on Tuesday with the unveiling of the 2018 SAC baseball awards. The junior lefty was also named to the All-SAC first team. Elliott led all SAC pitchers with 81.2 innings pitched, 106 strikeouts—a program record and third natioinally—and 11.68 strikeouts per nine innings during the regular season. He was also second with a 2.98 ERA—first among full-time starting pitchers—and tied for second in wins with a 7-3 record overall. Elliott racked up at least 10 strikeouts in seven of his 12 starts, including a career high-tying 12 against Carson-Newman in a 2-1 win on March 23 in which he went the distance, carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning and faced just one batter over the minimum in an eventual 2-1 walk-off win.
 
- Outfielder Logan Augustine and shortstop Tyler Adams were selected to the All-SAC second team while outfielder Will Reddick and pitcher Joe Bobiak were chosen for the All-SAC honorable mention team.
 
- Seth Hunt extended his hitting streak to 19 games and has been on an absolute tear in April with a .526 average (30-for-57) over 15 games for the month. In that span, the junior has hit all three of his career home runs, driven in 21 of his 32 RBI on the year and raised his batting average from .276 to .356. He has also scored at least one run in 11 straight games.
 
- Salvey tied for fifth with eight home runs in SAC play and led the team with 11 overall. Wages went deep 10 times while Adams hit nine. LMU's 60 round-trippers ranked fourth in the SAC and are the third-most in program history. Last year's team hit 61, and the program record is 71 set in 2010.
 
- Adams has tied a program single-season record with 21 doubles and ranks second in the conference. It is also the fourth-highest total nationally. The sophomore shortstop led the conference and is second nationally with 61 runs scored. He was also a perfect 14-for-14 on stolen base attempts.
 
- The Railsplitters as a team hit .349 at home compared to .286 on the road. On-base percentage (.443-.384) and slugging percentage (.553-.449) were also significantly higher at Lamar Hennon Field.
 
- Lincoln Memorial led the SAC with a .325 batting average overall and was third with a .323 mark in league play. The team recorded a double-digit hit total in 29 of 49 games, including 11 of 17 away from home.
 
- The team's 425 runs are second nationally behind Delta State's 431. LMU's 8.7 runs per game are 12^thoverall. The Railsplitters also rank inside the top 10 in hits (544; 3^rd), doubles (107; T-5^th), base on balls (233; 5^th) and sacrifice flies (30; T-6^th).
 
- Railsplitter pitching was third in the SAC with an overall 5.08 ERA overall and second with a 5.16 ERA in league play. Pitchers collectively posted a 4.66 ERA at home and 5.83 on the road. The staff is averaging over a strikeout per inning for the first time in program history at 9.21 K/9—the best mark in the conference. The 413 total strikeouts have already set a program record.
 
- LMU has posted a 7.52 ERA in 15 April games. The team had solid ERAs of 4.20 in February and 3.87 in March.
 
- Railsplitter starting pitchers accumulated a 21-8 record with a 4.58 ERA in 49 games and struck out 260 batters in 243.2 innings. Relievers collectively posted a 5.85 ERA.
 
- LMU's .970 fielding percentage stands as the best mark in program history. The team's 51 errors are six fewer than the next-lowest total of 57 set in 2015. Catcher Dalton Dedas is just one of two players in LMU history to post a perfect fielding percentage with a minimum of 250 chances.
 
Notes on Carson-Newman: 
 
- The Eagles have won four SAC Championships (1992, 1993, 1997 and 2007) since the tournament began in 1991.
 
- Carson-Newman finished its season on a six-game winning streak. The team also won its final two SAC series by taking two of three over Lenoir-Rhyne and sweeping Tusculum.
 
- Pitcher Dillon Cate was named to the All-SAC first team. Catcher Ethan Goforth and reliever Will Gardner earned spots on the second team while third baseman Brett Langhorne was on the honorable mention list. Goforth and Langhorne each earned Gold Gloves.
 
- The team finished ninth in the 10-team SAC with 320 runs scored and .286 batting average and was eighth with 174 runs in league play. C-N finished last with a .276 average in SAC games. The Eagles were also 10^thwith a .377 on-base percentage overall and .358 mark in SAC games.
 
- Carson-Newman did not lead the league in any hitting, pitching or defensive category. The team was second in the SAC with 22 sacrifice files, 9.17 K/9 and 44 double plays turned. The Eagles' 38 stolen bases were the second-most in SAC play.
 
- Langhorne ranked third in the conference with 20 steals while Goforth was tied for fourth at 17.
 
- The team hit .295 at home and .272 on the road. C-N has slumped lately with a .263 average in 13 April games.
 
- Carson-Newman was fifth in the SAC with a 5.29 overall ERA and 5.64 mark in league play. The team posted ERAs of 5.56 at home and 5.01 away. 
 
- Starting pitchers posted a 15-11 record and 5.14 ERA. Kyle Cagle led the team with a 3.59 ERA in 10 starts while Cate accumulated a 6-2 record and 94 strikeouts in 75.1 innings.
 
- Eagle relievers posted a collective 5.43 ERA. Greg Valentine had a 6-1 record pitching exclusively in relief with a 3.16 ERA. Valentine led the SAC with 12 saves and struck out 54 batters in 33.2 innings.
 
Series History: 
 
- Lincoln Memorial leads the series 32-27 over Carson-Newman since 1994. The Railsplitters have won 16 of the past 20 matchups.
 
- The Railsplitters won two of three regular-season meetings with a pair of walk-offs. Dedas' RBI single in the bottom of the ninth gave LMU a 2-1 victory in the series opener. Two days later, the Railsplitters overcame a 10-1 deficit in the seventh inning to win 12-11. Wages delivered the game-ending RBI single in the bottom of the ninth.
 
- Carson-Newman snapped a 10-game losing streak to the Railsplitters with an 8-4 win in the series finale.
 
- The teams are 2-2 against each other in the SAC Championship. Both of LMU's wins have come in the title game.