KODAK, Tenn. – The Lincoln Memorial baseball team defeated No. 1 seed Newberry 11-5 on Sunday night following a long rain delay at Smokies Stadium in the South Atlantic Conference Tournament championship series opener.
 
The No. 6 seed Railsplitters (31-16) scored a trio of 1^st inning runs highlighted by Carson Boles and Andrew Keene RBI singles, and they would lead the rest of the way over the No. 10 nationally ranked Wolves (39-10). The game would be delayed early in the Bottom of the 1^st due to lightning before rain would push back the resumption of the contest by almost 5 hours.
 
Lincoln Memorial tacked on insurance runs in the 5^th (Chris Hall RBI single), 6^th (Kasten Harvey RBI triple and Mitch Petzelt RBI single) and 7^th (Jared Hancock bases loaded walk) before exploding for 4 tallies in the 9^th. The run support was more than enough for Will Shelton to close out the win, as he threw 3.2 scoreless innings in relief to secure his 4^th save on the year.
 
Patrick Queener (7-3) started for the Railsplitters, getting through 5.1 innings while allowing 5 runs to earn the win. Newberry's Ethan LeBron dropped to 4-2 after giving up the 3 runs in the 1^st inning and didn't return to the mound after the rain delay.
 
Monday's Game 2 is scheduled to start at noon but could be pushed back due to the late finish of the opener, with the last out coming minutes before midnight.