KODAK, Tenn. – The Lincoln Memorial baseball team looks to become only the second team in South Atlantic Conference history to win three straight tournament titles this weekend when the 2019 Pilot Flying J SAC Baseball Championship commences at Smokies Stadium. 
 
After finishing the regular-season slate with a 32-15 overall record and an 18-6 SAC mark, which is tied with the 2017 team for the most conference wins in program history, the Railsplitters are the No. 2 seed for the tournament and earn a first-round bye.
 
LMU will play the highest seed remaining from Thursday's play-in games featuring No. 5 Wingate vs. No. 8 Coker and No. 6 Carson-Newman vs. No. 7 Anderson on Friday at 3:45 p.m. The double-elimination tournament culminates on Monday when a champion is crowned. 
 
Newberry is the top seed for the SAC tournament after the Wolves clinched the first regular-season title in program history this past weekend by taking two of three games from Lincoln Memorial at Lamar Hennon Field. 
 
The Railsplitters entered the weekend needing a three-game sweep of Newberry to win the first regular-season title in program history as well and won the opening game 5-2. However, the Wolves thwarted LMU's title hopes behind a complete-game shutout from freshman ace Josh Bookbinder in game two of the series. With their title hopes then dashed, the Railsplitters then laid an egg in Saturday's regular-season finale as Newberry took advantage of four LMU errors to clinch the series with a commanding 21-5 victory. 
 
"Bookbinder was just better than us in game two and certainly that was a big blow," LMU head baseball coach Jeff Sziksai said. "Saturday, unfortunately, we came out and beat ourselves that day. Not to take anything away from Newberry because they have a really good team, but on Saturday LMU beat LMU. 
 
"That sour taste in our mouth hopefully motivates us to respond and play better this coming weekend."
 
Prior to the disappointing closing series against Newberry, the Railsplitters were playing some really good baseball, sweeping a three-game series from Wingate before taking two of three at Tusculum. But momentum is a fickle thing and the last two losses of the season are still lingering as Lincoln Memorial heads into the postseason.  
 
"You want to be playing your best baseball coming down the stretch and with the exception of the last two games of the year we were doing that," Sziksai said. "We have to flush that and be ready to go. 
 
"Friday, we are just looking at game one, trying to do whatever we have to do to win, go out, be the best version of ourselves and see what happens." 
 
The SAC was as competitive as ever this season and that could make the tournament as unpredictable as ever. Newberry enters as the top seed and ranked No. 8 in the NCBWA poll, while the Railsplitters are the two-time defending champions. Catawba is ranked 18th in the country, while Tusculum finished with an identical SAC record as the Indians at 17-7. Wingate went 14-10 in league play, while Carson-Newman was ranked nationally early in the season and finished 12-11 in conference play. 
 
It marks the first time since 2011 that at least six teams finished with a winning SAC record. 
 
Sziksai is quite familiar with the competitive nature of the South Atlantic Conference and is expecting the unexpected this week. 
 
"My mindset is its completely up for grabs," he said. "You look at Newberry and the year they had and that puts them as the frontrunner, but based on what I saw weekend in and weekend out there are eight teams that could win this tournament. That's because I think the league is so good." 
 
The Railsplitters return to Smokies Stadium looking to do what only one other team has done in the 28-year history of the SAC: win three straight baseball tournament crowns. Wingate is the only other program to accomplish that feat when they did so from 1994-96. 
 
While the bulk of the team is back from last season's dramatic SAC tournament title run, there's been no talk of three-peat this season. Instead, the Railsplitters are focused on how they can respond to last weekend's failures against Newberry and improve.  
 
"I don't think the last two years and how we have done in the tournament have anything to do with how we prepare for this one or our mindset," Sziksai said. 
 
"The silver lining from this past weekend was we got exposed in a lot of areas that we were able to address this week and become better at those things. We have been really trying hard to practice on those things and get better. We haven't talked at all about three-peat. We have our hands full trying to get better this week." 
 
No matter who Lincoln Memorial opens against on Friday, the Railsplitters will be in good hands with senior left-handed pitcher Ethan Elliott taking the mound. The first-team All-SAC selection has won seven straight starts, leads the league with 10 wins and ranks second in strikeouts with 111. He has also posted a sparkling 2.62 earned run average, which ranks fourth in the league. 
 
The Railsplitters also take one of, if not the best offensive attack in the league into the SAC tournament, as Lincoln Memorial completed the regular season as the SAC leader in batting average and on-base percentage. The 'Splitters led the league with four All-SAC first team picks in Elliott, Chris Salvey, Nate Stinson and Tyler Adams, while Seth Hunt and Will Reddick also earned spots on the All-SAC second team. 
 
The pieces are all in place for the Railsplitters to make another run to an unprecedented third straight SAC title, which LMU will likely have to do in order to guarantee a spot in the NCAA tournament after debuting at No. 6 in the Southeast Region rankings. 
 
With a chance at history, another NCAA tournament bid and redemption from the way the regular season ended, the Railsplitters are more than ready for Friday's SAC tournament opener. 
 
"I think everyone is disappointed with how we performed last week, especially on Saturday," Sziksai said. "I think they are looking to go out and show that we are better than that. The vibe is we are anxious to get back out on the field and show that that's not who we are." 
 
Live stats and video links are available for every game of the SAC tournament via www.lmurailsplitters.