KODAK, Tenn. –The fourth-seeded Lincoln Memorial University baseball team advanced to the South Atlantic Conference tournament championship game for the second straight year with a 6-4 win over eighth-seeded Anderson (25-29) Sunday night at Smokies Stadium. The Railsplitters (34-18), winners of seven straight, will face Catawba on Monday's at 1 p.m. for the chance to repeat as SAC tournament champions.
 
As the only undefeated team remaining in the double-elimination tournament, LMU has the luxury of only having to win one more game to repeat as champions. Should Catawba win the 1 p.m. game, the two teams will reset for a winner-takes-all bout. The Indians beat Carson-Newman 7-0 earlier in the day.
 
LMU was outhit 8-7 by Anderson but came up with the timely hits when needed. Five of Lincoln Memorial's hits came with two outs, and the Railsplitters batted .500 (4-for-8) with runners in scoring position. Meanwhile, Anderson's leadoff batter reached base in eight of nine innings, but the team hit .100 (2-for-20) with runners on base, .071 (1-for-14) with runners in scoring position and 0-for-8 with two outs. Five of the Trojans' hits went for extra bases.
 
Timmy Wages had two hits for the Railsplitters (2-for-4) and scored twice. Five other players had one hit apiece. Tyler Adams hit a solo home run while Mason Ewers and Seth Hunt each notched two RBI.
 
Matt Mullenbach won his fourth straight decision to improve to 7-2 with four runs allowed—three earned—in seven-plus innings. The junior righty struck out eight and surrendered eight hits and four walks across 127 pitches. 
 
Adams' homer in the bottom of the first put the Railsplitters up 1-0, but Jackson Strange answered in the top of the second with a two-run blast to put the Trojans ahead. Joe Stucky hit a sac fly in the bottom of the second to tie the score at two.
 
The tie held until the top of the fifth when William Thomas notched Anderson's lone hit with runners in scoring position with an RBI single. Thomas was the only Trojan to finish with multiple hits with a 2-for-5 night.
 
LMU took the lead for good with a four-run sixth inning. After two quick outs, Wages singled and Nate Stinson walked. Both came around to score on Ewers' double down the left field line. An infield hit and walk loaded the bases for Hunt, who singled up the middle to score two more and put LMU ahead 6-3.
 
All six runs were credited to John McMicking, who took the loss to fall to 0-3. The righty also surrendered six hits and three walks over 5.2 innings and struck out five.
 
Anderson stranded eight runners in the final five innings, including two in each of the sixth, seventh and eighth innings. The team pushed across a run on a Brandon Odachowski groundout in the eighth to cut the score to 6-4.
 
Jake Grenus and Kevin Norton each pitched scoreless frames in relief of Mullenbach. Norton picked up his second save in as many nights with a clean ninth inning.
 
Anderson's season comes to a close with the loss. The Trojans defeated Tusculum 7-6 in 10 innings earlier in the day. The team's improbable SAC tournament run also included wins over Lenoir-Rhyne and Catawba.