Harrogate, TN - After a 9-4 victory in its season debut, the Lincoln Memorial baseball team rattled off back to back wins to sweep Cedarville in the three game series, starting the season 3-0. The Railsplitters took game two decisively 14-4, while the third and final game was much more competitve, 5-1. It is the second season in a row that Lincoln Memorial has swept Cedarville to start the season.
In game two, Lincoln Memorial dominated the sticks. The Yellow Jackets tallied the first run as Alex Neff cleared the wall for a solo shot, giving Cedarville its only lead of the game, 1-0, in the first inning. The Railsplitters responded with a run in the bottom of the first as game-one hero
Joey LaMattina drove in
Carson Boles to knot the game at 1-1. Lincoln Memorial took its first lead of the game in the third when again, LaMattina connected on a single to left field, this time driving in
Kasten Harvey to take a 2-1 lead. Later in the inning, Cam Bowen was credited with an RBI, thanks to an error by the Cedarville second basemen, as Boles rounded home for the second time of the game, giving the Railsplitters a 3-1 lead. DJ Alexander then delivered a sac-fly, bringing home LaMattina, giving Lincoln Memorial its final run of the third inning, taking a 4-1 lead heading into the fourth inning.
The Yellow Jackets began to fight back in the fourth inning, as Kale Ebling connected on a double, driving in teammates Henderson and Torres to cut the Railsplitter lead to 4-3. Boles and Bowen each homered in the fifth inning, both with solo shots, with only one batter between them. The nearly back-to-back homers gave Lincoln Memorial a 6-3 lead.The sixth inning, the Yellow Jackets saw their final run. Lucas Rotello drove in Kaiden Wilde, bringing the score to 6-4 in favor of the Railsplitters. Things got interesting in the sixth inning. Already with one homer on the day, Boles stepped to the plate with teammates
Ryan Kurth and
Tyler Boyd on base, and delivered a three-run comet over the wall, extending the Lincoln Memorial lead to 9-4. After limiting Cedarville to zero runs in the top of the seventh, Lincoln Memorial began to pour it on even more.
Sam Mast connected on a single to left field, bringing Bowen home for the Railsplitters' 10th run of the game, taking a 10-4 lead. Later in the inning, Boyd connected on a single to short, bringing home Mast to take an 11-4 lead. Colin Goda brought home Alexander to further extend the Lincoln Memorial lead to 12-4. Harvey drove in Goda, and scored on an errant pass later in the inning to give Lincoln Memorial a 14-4 victory in game two.
With two wins already under their belts, the Railsplitters set their sights on game three, and a weekend sweep.
The third and final game of the series was a defensive battle throughout, with Lincoln Memorial taking a 5-1 decision. With a homer in the previous game, Bowen hadn't had enough. Stepping to the plate in the first inning, Bowen connected on his second home run of the day, a three-run blast, giving the Railsplitters a 3-0 lead. The lone highlight for the Yellow Jackets came in the second inning as Torres delivered a solo shot, giving Cedarville its only run of the game, and bringing the score to 3-1 in the second inning. LaMattina delivered another RBI in the third, bringing home Harvey to take a 4-1 lead. DJ Alexander got in on the home run action, connecting on a solo shot in the sixth inning to bring the game to its final score of 5-1, allowing the Railsplitters to complete the sweep of the Yellow Jackets and start the season 3-0.
