TIGERVILLE, S.C. –The seventh-seeded Lincoln Memorial University baseball team was dealt its first loss of the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional, 15-3, at the hands of third-seeded and No. 20 nationally-ranked Belmont Abbey (39-12) late Friday night at Ashmore Park. The Railsplitters (36-20) will look to extend their season Saturday at 3 p.m. against fifth-seeded UNC Pembroke in an elimination game.
Thomas Yoder and Jakob Rolly each hit a pair of home runs for Belmont Abbey and accounted for most of the damage offensively with 10 combined RBI. Yoder (4-for-5, 7 RBI) connected on a grand slam and two-run blast while Rolly (2-for-5, 3 RBI) opened the scoring with a solo shot and later added a two-run homer. Five other Crusaders contributed two hits. All nine members of the team's starting lineup reached base safely at least once, and eight scored at least one run.
Belmont Abbey outhit the Railsplitters 17-7. Crusader batters were also issued 10 walks and stole four bases. LMU left 13 runners on base, including the bases loaded twice, while Belmont Abbey stranded 11.
The Crusaders loaded the bases in the top of the first but failed to score as
Matt Mullenbach was able to work out of the jam. Rolly's first homer one inning later put Belmont Abbey ahead 1-0.
The game was interrupted with two outs in the bottom of the second due to a rain delay that lasted roughly two hours. Play resumed shortly after 10 p.m. local time.
Mullenbach wasn't as sharp after the delay and only faced four batters upon returning—all of which reached and scored. A leadoff double followed by two walks loaded the bases for Yoder, who belted an opposite-field shot over the right field wall for a grand slam. Rolly later added a two-run homer off
Chase Randolph to put the Crusaders ahead 7-0. Belmont Abbey plated its six runs in the inning on just four hits and sent 11 batters to the plate.
Yoder homered again in the top of the sixth to increase the lead to 9-0.
Lincoln Memorial plated two runs in the bottom half of the sixth on a
Timmy Wages RBI double and
Mason Ewers bases-loaded walk. The Railsplitters still had the bases loaded and no one out following Ewers' walk, but another ball was never put in play as three straight batters struck out swinging.
Sam Luchansky struck out the first two before being relieved by Parker MacPhail, who recorded the final strikeout of the inning. Luchansky pitched the first 5.2 innings with two earned runs, six hits and five walks allowed to pick up the win and improve to 9-1.
Mullenbach was charged with five earned runs in 2.0 innings. The junior righty surrendered four hits and walks and took the loss for the first time as a starter to fall to 7-3.
LMU had the leadoff batter reach in six of nine innings but went just 2-for-23 with runners on base and 1-for-14 with runners in scoring position with Wages' RBI double accounting for the only hit. Wages (2-for-4) and
Tyler Adams (2-for-5) were the only Railsplitters with multiple hits.
Belmont Abbey added three runs in each of the seventh and ninth innings. The team scored its three runs in the seventh without the benefit of a hit in the inning. Two scored on wild pitches and the third on a fielding error. Five hits led to the three ninth-inning runs as Colin Rosenbaum, Yoder and Josh Genthe recorded RBI base knocks.
LMU pushed across its only other run when
Nate Stinson was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth.
Notes:
- The 15 runs allowed and 10 walks issued by LMU pitching were season highs
- The Railsplitters fall to 1-2 all-time against Belmont Abbey with all three meetings occurring this season
- Lincoln Memorial eliminated UNC Pembroke with an 11-6 win in last year's NCAA Division II Southeast Regional in the teams' only previous meeting.
