BRISTOL, Tenn. – The King Tornado scored five runs in the fifth inning while the Railsplitters squandered numerous scoring chances to suffer an 8-3 loss at the King Baseball Field on Tuesday afternoon.
Lincoln Memorial (6-6) was outhit 11-7 and left nine runners stranded on the bases, including two in four different innings, to drop its third consecutive game, while the Tornado (4-5) took advantage of nearly every one of its scoring opportunities, leaving just five on the bases while scattering four doubles and two homers.
Seth Hunt went 2-for-5 with a double and two RBI, while both
Joe Stucky and
Henry Moore reached twice with a single and walk apiece.
Nate Stinson,
Will Reddick and
Brent Richey accounted for the only other LMU hits with a single apiece.
Ben Wiley took the loss for the Railsplitters after giving up four hits, five earned runs and walking three over 4.2 innings of work. The senior righty falls to 0-1 on the season in the loss.
Matt Walczak provided two innings of scoreless relief, surrendering just two hits while striking out two down the closing stretch.
The two through five hitters in the Tornado batting order all finished with two hits apiece while combining for eight RBI and six runs scored. Austin Meyer went 2-for-5 with three RBI and a homer, Kevin Barbato also homered as part of a 2-for-3 day, and Hunter Barbour and Junior Renwick went 2-for-4 with two RBI each.
Braden White mostly silenced the Railsplitter bats in his 4.1 inning start, giving up only one hit and two earned runs. Ben Farlow got the win, though, after tossing a scoreless sixth inning. Joe Cottone picked up the save with a 1-2-3 top of the ninth.
The Railsplitters had a chance to take the early lead with runners on second and third with one out in the top of the third, but a strikeout and a groundout ended the threat.
King then jumped out on top in the bottom of the fourth behind a leadoff homer by Barbato.
Lincoln Memorial sparked a rally in the top of the fifth, taking a 2-1 lead on a two-out, two-run double by Hunt, which scored Stucky and Moore after that duo walked in back-to-back at-bats.
That lead was short-lived, though, as the Tornado plated five runs in the bottom of the fifth to take the lead for good. Meyer's three-run bomb gave King an abrupt 4-2 lead, while back-to-back run-scoring doubles for Barbour and Renwick extended the advantage.
Barbour and Renwick drove in another run apiece in the seventh inning to push the King lead to 8-2.
The Railsplitters left two more runners on in both the sixth and seventh innings before finally checking back into the scoring column with an RBI single for Moore in the top of the eight. However, that was the extent of the scoring as two fly outs and a strikeout ended the game.
Lincoln Memorial returns to action this weekend, opening South Atlantic Conference play with a three-game series at Anderson. Game one is set for a 3 p.m. start on Saturday.
