AIKEN, S.C. – Alex Mills drove a two-out, walk-off single to left field in the bottom of the ninth inning to propel USC Aiken to a 6-5 win and a season-opening, three-game sweep of the Railsplitters on Sunday afternoon at Hernandez Stadium.
Though they finished with a mere 16-10 run differential in the series, the walk-off win helped the Pacers (3-0) sweep Lincoln Memorial (0-3) for the fifth time since the start of the 2012 campaign.
The Railsplitters were limited to a series- and season-low six hits Sunday by a quintet of Pacer pitchers.
Nate Stinson completed his massive weekend by going 3-for-5 with two RBI, a run scored and a double. The junior had multiple hits in all three games against the Pacers, combining to go 9-for-14 with four RBI and a pair of doubles.
Aside from Stinson,
Seth Hunt,
Chris Salvey and
Henry Moore added singles, while Salvey drove in a pair of runs and
Brent Richey tallied an RBI as well.
Alex Allen did not record a hit, but reached four times via three walks and a hit-by-pitch and scored three runs.
Four USC Aiken players compiled multiple hits as the home team racked up a weekend-high 14 hits total. Mills and Chandler Rogers had three hits apiece, while Joey Smithers and Conner Durden chipped in two hits each. Smithers reached base four times total with a pair of walks as well.
Lincoln Memorial senior pitcher had a tough go of it in his first start of the season, allowing 10 hits and four runs (three earned) across four innings of work. He also walked three before being relieved in the top of the fifth.
The Pacers jumped on top of the Railsplitters with a pair of runs in both the first and second innings.
Back-to-back run-scoring doubles from Durden and Blake Bottomley scored two in the bottom of the first, while Philip Watcher and Durden drove in runs with singles in the second frame.
The Railsplitters righted the ship after that and scored five unanswered runs to take the lead briefly.
Allen led off the third with a walk and scored two batters later on an RBI groundout from Salvey. The first baseman pushed another run across in the same way in the fifth, scoring Allen again after he reached via another walk.
With the deficit cut in half, Lincoln Memorial took the lead with a three-run flurry in the top of the seventh. Hunt walked and Allen reached for the third time with a hit-by-pitch to set the stage for Stinson, who came through with a game-tying double. Stinson moved to third on a Salvey single and scored the go-ahead run on a sac fly by Richey.
The Railsplitters' lead was short-lived, though, as pinch hitter Scott Huntley singled home the tying run in the home half of the seventh.
Lincoln Memorial put the potential go-ahead run on base in the eighth after Moore and Allen walked, but Stinson flew out to end the threat.
That would be the final scoring chance for the Railsplitters, as the Pacers loaded the bases in the bottom of the ninth on a Rogers single and back-to-back walks. With two outs and the bases loaded, Mills singled in the winning run to give USC Aiken a 6-5 win.
Devin Morris was saddled with the loss after allowing two hits and Mills' walk-off winning in the ninth frame – his only inning of work.
The Railsplitters will try to pick up their first win of the season on Monday when they conclude their season-opening four-game road trip at Claflin. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. in Orangeburg, S.C.
