HARROGATE, Tenn. – The Lincoln Memorial baseball team clinched the No. 2 seed for the South Atlantic Conference tournament with a 5-2 win in the opener of Friday's doubleheader at Lamar Hennon Field against No. 3 nationally-ranked Newberry, but was unable to keep its hope of winning the first SAC regular-season title in program history alive in game two, as the Wolves rallied behind Josh Bookbinder's complete-game shutout to win the regular-season crown with an 8-0 triumph. 
 
A dominant pitching performance carried the Railsplitters (32-14, 18-5 SAC) to victory in a speedy opener that lasted just under two hours and 45 minutes, as senior Ethan Elliott nearly tossed his second straight complete-game shutout to clinch the third 10-win season of his illustrious career in his final start at Lamar Hennon Field. 
 
Newberry's (37-12, 20-3 SAC) freshman starter, Bookbinder, answered Elliott's gem in game one with a gem of his own in game two, allowing just three hits and two walks in the 8-0 SAC title clinching win, which lasted nearly four hours and included a 55-minute lightning and rain delay in the top of the second inning. 
 
The Railsplitters still have a chance to win the series on Saturday when the two teams close out the regular-season slate at 1 p.m. Prior to the game, Lincoln Memorial will celebrate Senior Day by honoring its 12-member senior class. 
 
Game One: Lincoln Memorial 5, Newberry 2 
 
Elliott carried a shutout into the ninth inning and moved to 10-2 on the season, while five different players posted multiple hits to lead the Railsplitters past the Wolves in the opener. 
 
Tyler Adams went 3-for-5 with a home run, Brent Richey drove in a pair of runs, Chris Salvey went 2-for-4 with a double, and Nate Stinson and Marco Rios chipped in two hits apiece as the Railsplitters produced a 14-8 edge in hits. 
 
Lincoln Memorial never trailed in the game, scoring a run in both the second and third innings to stake itself to an early lead. 
 
In the second, Richey drew a leadoff walk and scored on Rios' two-out single back up the middle, while Richey legged out a potential double play in the third to allow Dedas to score after the catcher led off the inning with a double. 
 
Elliott stranded base runners at second in the first, third, fourth and fifth innings before the Railsplitters broke the game open in the bottom half of the fifth with a three-run, five-hit frame. 
 
Adams led off the inning with his fifth home run of the season, while Salvey kept the rally going by blasting a double off the top of the wall in center field. Stinson followed that up with a single to put runners on the corners. Salvey then scored on Richey's single, while Will Reddick drove home Stinson with a single back up the middle. 
 
Elliott breezed through the next three innings to carry a shutout into the top of the ninth, but the Wolves sparked some offense to deny the lefty of his second straight complete-game shutout. Danton Hyman led off with a single, while Zane Tarrance followed with a double. Tyler White put the Wolves on the board with a sac fly before Colin Allman's RBI double ended Elliott's day. 
 
Devin Morris then came on and promptly snuffed out the Wolves' rally, inducing back-to-back fly outs to notch his seventh save of the season. 
 
Hyman went 3-for-3 with a run scored to lead the Newberry attack, while Dalton Landsdowne added a pair of hits as well.
 
Charlie Fessler was saddled with the loss after giving up 11 hits and five earned runs while issuing three walks over four-plus innings of work. 
 
Game Two: Newberry 8, Lincoln Memorial 0 
 
The Wolves took advantage of their run-scoring chances, while the Railsplitters came up empty on some early opportunities before Bookbinder settled down late in the game to clinch Newberry's first conference title of any kind since 1999. 
 
Newberry went 5-for-12 with two outs and manufactured its first six runs of the games with two outs, while the Railsplitters went 2-for-8 with two outs and 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position. 
 
After waiting out a nearly one-hour rain delay in the top of the second inning, the Wolves sparked the first of three straight two-out rallies, as Ian Clements put two runs on the board with a two-out double down the left-field line. 
 
The Railsplitters then let their best scoring chance of the game slip away in the bottom half of the second as Salvey was hit by a pitch, Richey singled and Allen walked to load the bases. However, Rios ground out to shortstop to keep Newberry in front. 
 
The Wolves then tacked on two runs in the top of the third with back-to-back two-out RBI singles from Luke Orr and Tony Matos. Tyler Ackart's two-run, two-out single in the top of the fourth then made it 6-0. 
 
Lincoln Memorial wouldn't put another runner in scoring position until Salvey blistered a double off the left-field wall with two outs in the bottom of the sixth. But the Railsplitters were unable to plate a run, as Stinson flew out to end the sixth before LMU went down in order in the seventh to end the game. 
 
Matt Mullenbach took the loss after allowing five hits and four runs with four walks over 2.2 innings of work, falling to 3-4 on the season. 
 
Salvey, Richey and Rios accounted for the only hits of the game for the Railsplitters.