HICKORY, N.C. – The Railsplitters extended their scorching-hot start to South Atlantic Conference play on Saturday, completing the third conference sweep of the season by taking both ends of a doubleheader from the Lenoir-Rhyne Bears in Hickory, N.C. 
 
Lincoln Memorial (19-8, 10-2 SAC) used a couple of big innings to power the doubleheader sweep and push its season-long winning streak to eight games. A six-run sixth inning carried the Railsplitters to a 9-8 win over the Bears (11-15, 4-8 SAC) in game one, while a five-run first and five-run seventh comprised a 10-1 win in the finale. 
 
LMU has now swept three of its first four SAC series, with the only conference losses coming against Catawba in the first week of March. The Railsplitters have won six straight SAC games since falling to Catawba in the series finale on March 2. 
 
The Railsplitters return to Lamar Hennon Field for a five-game home stand this week, beginning with a nonconference matchup against Shorter on Tuesday at 3 p.m. 
 
Game One: Lincoln Memorial 9, Lenoir-Rhyne 8 
 
The heart of the batting order took care of business to clinch the series for the Railsplitters.
 
Tyler Adams homered for the second straight game, Chris Salvey went 3-for-5 with a double and two RBI, Nate Stinson had two doubles and two runs, and Will Reddick and Henry Moore added two hits apiece. Reddick also drove in two runs. 
 
It took some time for the Railsplitters to get going offensively, as Lenoir-Rhyne starter Alex Shirazi allowed just one single through the first three innings. The Bears, meanwhile, took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third with an RBI single from Zack Shoemaker followed by a sac fly from Alex Reynolds. 
 
Lincoln Memorial finally broke through against Shirazi in the fourth inning. Adams kick-started a three-run rally for the Railsplitters with a solo home run, which was followed by a single from Salvey, a double by Stinson and an RBI single from Reddick. Stinson scored the final run of the inning, stealing home while Reddick was in a rundown, to give the Railsplitters the lead. 
 
Back-to-back doubles and a run-scoring wild pitch put the Bears back in front in the bottom of the fourth, but the Railsplitters broke the game open in the top of the sixth, bringing 11 hitters to the plate in a six-run outburst. 
 
Reddick's RBI single got the scoring started, while Joe Stucky drove home two with a sac fly, which was aided by Lenoir-Rhyne's second error of the inning. A wild pitch allowed Alex Allen, who also reached via an error, to score, while Salvey capped the inning with a two-run double. 
 
That inning catapulted the Railsplitters out to a commanding 9-4 lead, and they needed every one of those runs to hold off the Bears down the stretch. 
 
Clayton Jeffries doubled home a run in the bottom of the sixth to cut the deficit to 9-5, while E.J. Ranel connected on his second home run of the series in the seventh to close the gap to 9-6. 
 
The Bears scored two more in the bottom of the eighth on a groundout and sac fly to make it a one-run ballgame. However, Lenoir-Rhyne never put the potential tying run on base as Devin Morris worked a 1-2-3 frame in the bottom of the ninth to close out the game and notch his fourth save of the season. 
 
Hudson Widrig logged the win after allowing just three hits and two runs over 2.2 innings of relief, while Morris went the final four frames, giving up four hits and four runs with four strikeouts over that span. 
 
Eli Wright made the start for the Railsplitters, going 2.1 innings. He allowed three hits and two runs while walking three.  
 
Grant Fuller paced the Bears with three hits – all doubles. Jeffries and Hunter Jackson chipped in two hits apiece. 
 
Game Two: Lincoln Memorial 10, Lenoir-Rhyne 1 
 
Pitchers Matt Mullenbach, Joe Bobiak and Patrick Queener combined to allow just four hits, while the Railsplitters bookended things with a five-run first and a five-run seventh to complete the sweep. 
 
Mullenbach gave up only three hits and one run across 4.1 innings, but saw his pitch count driven up by six walks. Bobiak and Queener picked up where Mullenbach left off, though. Bobiak secured his third win of the season after holding the Bears hitless over 1.2 frames, while Queener gave up a hit and walked two while recording a strikeout in his inning of relief. 
 
Offensively, Adams went 2-for-4 with a run, Stinson had two hits, two runs and two RBI, Moore produced two hits, two RBI and a walk, and Allen drove in three runs. 
 
The Railsplitters accounted for all 10 runs and eight of their 10 hits in the first and seventh innings. 
 
Lincoln Memorial brought 10 hitters to the plate in the first. Seth Hunt led off with a double while Dalton Dedas and Salvey walked to load the bases for Stinson, who drove two runs home with a single. A walk to Reddick loaded the bases, while Moore followed with a single to drive home another run. Allen was hit by a pitch to make it 4-0, while Stucky notched a sac fly to cap the five-run first. 
 
Lenoir-Rhyne pushed its only run across in the home half of the first on a two-out RBI double by Ranel. 
 
The Railsplitters mustered just four base runners over the next five innings, but exploded again in the seventh, batting around again to hang up five more runs. 
 
Moore got the scoring started with a bases-loaded single, which was followed by a two-run single from Allen. Pinch hitter Marco Rios recorded the third straight RBI single of the inning in the next at-bat, while Hunt made it a 10-1 game with a sac fly. 
 
The Bears had their chances, leaving 11 runners stranded on base, including two in the third, two in the fourth and three in the fifth.