KODAK, Tenn. –The fourth-seeded Lincoln Memorial University baseball team moved one step closer to repeating as South Atlantic Conference tournament champions with a 10-7 win over seventh-seeded Tusculum (25-26) Saturday night at Smokies Stadium. The Railsplitters (33-18), winners of six straight, are the only undefeated team remaining in the double-elimination tournament.
The Railsplitters will play at 7:30 p.m. Sunday night against the winner of the noon matchup between Tusculum and eighth-seeded Anderson. A win would clinch a berth in the SAC title game.
LMU outhit the Pioneers 12-10 with half of the team's total going for extra bases. Railsplitter batters also waked nine times.
Seth Hunt reached base three times, totaled three RBI and scored twice.
Mason Ewers homered and drove in a pair of runs.
Chris Salvey finished 3-for-5 with an RBI double while
Will Reddick tallied two hits and RBI.
Timmy Wages also notched a pair of hits and scored twice.
Zack Finchum and Bryson Ford each had three hits and reached base four times for the Pioneers with a pair of runs scored. Seth DeHaven led the team with two RBI.
Tusculum took a 3-0 lead after two innings. A Nate Montgomery groundout plated the team's first run in the first, and DeHaven's second-inning single drove in two more.
Ewers' opposite-field solo shot put the Railsplitters on the board in the top of the third. Three straight RBI doubles by Reddick,
Tyler Adams and Salvey later in the frame put LMU ahead 4-3. Adams' double gave him 22 on the year to set a new program single-season record.
The lead didn't last long, as Tusculum used a Garrett Dupuis RBI double and Bryson Ford RBI single to go back ahead 5-4.
Neither starting pitcher made it out of the third inning or factored in the decision.
Joe Bobiak allowed five runs—four earned—in 2.1 innings while Justin Massey surrendered four—all earned—in 2.2.
Lincoln Memorial used a four-run sixth inning to take the lead for good and added two more runs in the seventh. Hunt's two-run single put the Railsplitters ahead 6-5. Reddick followed with an RBI single. Hunt later scored on a throwing error. A Ewers sac fly and Hunt bases-loaded walk extended the LMU lead to 10-5 the next inning.
All six runs, five of which were earned, were charged to Colin Johnston. He took the loss to fall to 3-2.
Chase Randolph held Tusculum scoreless in four-plus inning in relief until the Pioneers plated a pair of runs in the eighth and picked up the win to improve to 3-0. Daulton Martin doubled in the first run.
Kevin Norton entered the game and got Jarel McDade to ground out, which brought in another to cut the score to 10-7, but got Montgomery to ground out to end the threat. The sophomore righty pitched a scoreless ninth inning to earn his first career save.
