TIGERVILLE, S.C. – The Lincoln Memorial baseball team will begin its third straight and fourth all-time NCAA tournament appearance on Thursday when the fifth-seeded Railsplitters open Southeast Regional play against the fourth-seeded Mount Olive Trojans in Tigerville, S.C. 
 
This season, the Southeast Regional has been split into two three-team brackets. Lincoln Memorial and Mount Olive share a bracket with top-seeded and host North Greenville, while the other side of the region features host Newberry, Peach Belt Conference tournament champions Young Harris and Catawba. 
 
Each three-team regional site will play a double-elimination tournament that concludes on Saturday, with the winners of each side of the bracket meeting for a best-of-three super regional May 24-25. 
 
The winners of the super regionals punch their ticket to the championship finals June 1-8 at the USC Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, N.C. 
 
Schedule / Game Day Links 
 
Thursday, May 16 vs. Mount Olive – 8 p.m. 
Live Stats
Video
Southeast Regional tournament central 
NCAA tournament bracket 
Preview with Coach Sziksai 
 
Quick Hits 
 
- The Railsplitters were last in action on April 28 when they were eliminated from the South Atlantic Conference Championship with a 10-2 loss to Wingate. Lincoln Memorial scored in the top of the first inning, but the Bulldogs responded with 10 unanswered runs to end the Railsplitters' bid for a third straight SAC tournament title. 
 
- A lack of offensive production ultimately undid the Railsplitters in the SAC Championship. After opening with a 6-0 win over Wingate, Lincoln Memorial combined for just nine hits total in an 8-0 loss to Catawba and the 10-2 loss to the Bulldogs. The 'Splitters had their chances in both games, but went a combined 2-for-21 with runners in scoring position in those two games. 
 
- Despite losing four of its last five games, Lincoln Memorial earned an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament for the first time in program history after playing its way into the tournament with SAC Championship victories in 2013, 2017 and 2018. Prior to that late-season swoon, the Railsplitters had won seven of their last eight games. 
 
- The Railsplitters are 3-6 all-time in the NCAA tournament. In their first-ever trip to the Big Dance in 2013, LMU was handled by No. 1 Mount Olive 9-3 and No. 25 Georgia College 12-0. After dropping their opener to No. 2 North Georgia in 2018, Lincoln Memorial secured the first NCAA tournament win in program history with a 7-6 triumph over Georgia College and added another win that year over UNC Pembroke, 11-6. Last season, the Railsplitters upset No. 5 Georgia College 9-4 on the opening day, but subsequently followed with a 15-3 loss to Belmont Abbey and a 9-8 loss to UNC Pembroke. 
 
- One of the hottest pitchers in the country will take the mound for the Railsplitters in the opener when senior lefty Ethan Elliott toes the rubber. The All-South Atlantic Conference first team selection has compiled an 11-2 record with wins in eight straight starts, a 2.37 earned-run average and 122 strikeouts over 83.2 innings of work. With one more win, Elliott would surpass Scot Shields for the single-season program record. 
 
- The LMU offense is carried by a quartet of players with 60-plus hits on their ledger in Nate Stinson, Chris Salvey, Seth Hunt and Will Reddick. Stinson leads the team with 74 hits, a .389 average and 19 doubles, while Salvey holds the team lead in homers with 12 and RBI with 59 while sporting a .349 average. Hunt has deposited 66 hits with 13 doubles, eight homers and 45 RBI, while Reddick has quietly racked up 61 hits with 37 RBI and a .326 batting average. 
 
- All-SAC first team pick Tyler Adams has also had an impressive season with a .338 average, 44 hits, eight doubles, six homers and 33 RBI. Adams' cumulative numbers trail some of the team-leading totals only because the Woodstock, Ga., native missed 13 of the first 16 games of the season with a nagging injury. 
 
- The Railsplitters hope the long break between games has given the offense time to get back clicking. Since uncorking 14 hits in a 5-2 series-opening win against Newberry on April 19, Lincoln Memorial has gone five straight games without a double-digit hit total, including a three-hit game against Newberry and a four-hit performance against Wingate. 
 
Notes on Mount Olive
 
- The Trojans are making their 17th all-time appearance in the NCAA tournament after compiling a 31-17 regular-season record and finishing as the runners-up in the Conference Carolinas Championship. Mount Olive is receiving votes in the NCBWA national poll and tied for 19th in the Collegiate Baseball rankings. 
 
- UMO was last in action on May 6 when they closed out the regular season with a 5-3 loss at Francis Marion. That loss dropped the Trojans to 1-4 over their past five games, which includes a pair of hard-fought losses to North Greenville. 
 
- The Trojans boast a solid offensive attack that has racked up a .294 batting average, a .395 on-base percentage and a .454 slugging percentage with 51 home runs. Mount Olive gets it done anyway necessary and leads the country with 39 sacrifice flies and averages 7.4 runs per game. 
 
- Sluggers Joe Mason and JT Stone lead the way for the Trojans offensively. Mason has racked up 61 hits with 12 homers, 12 doubles and 49 RBI, while Stone has also produced 49 RBI with nine homers, 11 doubles and a .357 batting average. Junior Gunner Tolston has accounted for 11 homers, seven doubles and 32 RBI, though he is hitting only .266 for the season. 
 
- Blake McLean and Nate Estes have been regular contributors as well with 48 and 46 hits, respectively. McLean is batting .270 with six doubles and 23 RBI, while Estes is batting .261 with nine doubles, three homers and 30 RBI. 
 
- Mount Olive is prone to striking out with 376 whiffs compared to 232 walks. Stone (48), Tolston (44), Mason (40) and McLean (40) have all struck out at least 40 times this season. 
 
- As a pitching staff, the Trojans have a 4.55 earned-run average. The Railsplitters are likely to face freshman All-Conference Carolinas second team selection Reed Parris, who has compiled an 8-4 record with 78 strikeouts over 87.2 innings of work. The righty has a 3.70 ERA and has tossed two complete games. 
 
- Mount Olive is young on the mound as its three leaders in innings pitches and games started – Parris, Caleb Bishop and Caleb Irwin – are all underclassmen. Bishop leads the team with 15 starts, racking up a 4-4 record with a 4.33 ERA and 56 strikeouts over 70.2 innings. 
 
Series History
 
- The one and only meeting between Lincoln Memorial and Mount Olive came in the 2013 NCAA tournament, when the then No. 1 nationally-ranked Trojans topped the Railsplitters 9-3 in Mount Olive, N.C.