Baseball Splits with Lincoln Memorial
The Lions split a South Atlantic Conference baseball double-header with Lincoln Memorial Saturday afternoon at Henderson Field
MARS HILL, N.C. – The Lions split a South Atlantic Conference baseball double-header with Lincoln Memorial Saturday afternoon at Henderson Field. Mars Hill won the first game 11-3 before the Railsplitters won the nightcap, 4-0. MHU took their season record to 23-14 overall and 8-9 in the league. LMU is now 22-10 on the season, 9-5 in the SAC.
Game 1: Mars Hill 11, Lincoln Memorial 3
Evan Rogers led the Lions at the plate in the first contest going 3-4 with a homerun, a double and three RBI. Phillip Carroll hit a two-run homerun while Brett Brubaker added a two-RBI double. Zac Brown threw 8.1 innings scattering three hits and allowing just a single earned run to pick up his second win (2-2) on the year.
Eric Kalman and Mason Ewers led LMU at the plate with two hits and a RBI apiece. Brandon Jean suffered the loss (3-2) on the mound for the Railsplitters.
Danny Valdez scored on a Lion error in the top of the first inning to give LMU an early lead. The Lions added two unearned runs of their own in the bottom of the first inning when Rogers and Brubaker crossed the plate on LMU miscues. The teams combined for six errors in the first inning of play.
Rogers belted a two-run homerun in the Lions' second at-bat to extend Mars Hill's lead to 4-1. MHU then exploded for six runs on four hits and two errors in the fourth inning to lead 10-1. Ray Carolina singled to plate Christian Stampler and then Brubaker hit a two-RBI double before Dylan Powers doubled to drive in Brubaker. Carroll's two-run homerun down the right field line accounted for the final two runs in the at-bat.
Carolina scored from first base when Rogers singled into right field in the bottom of the fifth inning before LMU scored a pair of runs in their last at-bat to make the final tally 11-3 in favor of the Lions.
Game 2: Lincoln Memorial 4, Mars Hill 0
Rogers led Mars Hill again offensively going 2-3 in the second contest. Hunter Boydston took the loss (4-4) for the Lions pitching 6.2 innings. He only allowed two earned runs.
H.D. Dillard went 2-4 with a double while Wes Neiderland was 1-3 with a double and two RBI to pace the Railsplitters at the plate. Ethan Elliott threw a complete game shutout to obtain his seventh win (7-1) of the season.
Ewers and Kalman scored on an error to give the Railsplitters a 2-0 advantage. Neiderland ended the scoring in the game in the third frame scoring the final two runs by hitting a double down the right field line.
The teams will conclude the three-game SAC series tomorrow with a single game at 1 p.m. at Henderson Field.