HARROGATE, Tenn. – Another explosive offensive performance paired with a strong outing from
Ethan Elliott delivered the Railsplitters to their 11th straight win with a 12-5 victory over Queens University in game one of a three-game South Atlantic Conference series on Friday evening at Lamar Hennon Field.
Led by a combined 9-for-16 effort at the plate from the top four hitters in the lineup, Lincoln Memorial (22-8, 11-2 SAC) captured its seventh straight conference win in their first-ever matchup against the Royals (7-19, 1-9 SAC).
With wind gusts of over 30 miles per hour battering Lamar Hennon Field, the ball was flying all over the park as the Railsplitters blasted two home runs and scattered six extra-base hits total. Queens hit three home runs and finished with five total extra-base knocks.
Chris Salvey fell just a triple shy of the cycle, going 3-for-4 at the plate with five RBI, a double and a quite possibly the longest home run in the short history of the new Lamar Hennon Field with a towering two-run shot in the bottom of the first.
Tyler Adams also homered while going 2-for-5 at the plate and driving in four runs, while
Dalton Dedas reached safely in all five of his plate appearances, going 2-for-2 with two RBI, three walks and four runs scored.
Seth Hunt added two hits apiece with three runs scored.
Elliott made the most of that offensive outburst, allowing just five hits and three runs over six innings of work. The senior lefty struck out eight, including five of the first seven batters he faced, to improve to 6-2 on the season.
Three LMU pitchers tossed an inning apiece down the closing stretch.
Matt Walczak struck out the side in the top of the seventh, while
Bryson Sullivan worked around a two-out single to keep the Royals off the board in the ninth.
The Railsplitters wasted no time jumping all over the Royals with a three-run bottom of the first. Hunt led off with a double and scored on a single from Dedas. Salvey then punished Zach Kelly's offering well beyond the wall in left-center field to notch his team-leading seventh homer of the season.
Lincoln Memorial added another run in the second on a fielding error by the Queens second baseman, which scored Hunt after he was hit by a pitch.
Noah Jones put the Royals on the board in the top of the fourth with a leadoff home run, but the Railsplitters answered that in the bottom of the inning with Adams' opposite-field jack. Dedas and
Alex Allen scored on Adams' fourth home run of the season after walking and doubling, respectively.
Alex Sexton's wind-aided two-run home run brought Queens back within striking distance in the top of the fifth, cutting the deficit to 7-3.
However, Lincoln Memorial countered once again, using an RBI double from Adams and a run-scoring single from Salvey to put two more runs on the board in the bottom of the sixth. Dedas then singled in another run in the seventh before Salvey plated two more to extend the lead to 12-3.
Dominic Ford hit a solo shot and a Rusty Nicholson drove home another run for the Royals with a sac fly, but Lincoln Memorial battened down the hatches after that to secure the win.
Ford, Jones and Nick Brassington led the Royals with two hits apiece. Kelly took the loss, falling to 1-4 on the season after surrendering eight hits and eight earned runs with five strikeouts and five walks over 5.2 innings of work.
The Railsplitters will complete their series against Queens on Saturday with a doubleheader at Lamar Hennon Field set for a 1 p.m. start.
