Tusculum drops baseball DH at Lincoln Memorial

Edison Cabrera in action in Saturday's DH at Lincoln Memorial (photo by Chris Lenker)
Edison Cabrera in action in Saturday's DH at Lincoln Memorial (photo by Chris Lenker)

 

HARROGATE, Tenn. --- Lincoln Memorial's Joe Bobiak pitched a one-hit shutout in the opener while the Railsplitters plated 15 runs in the second game as LMU swept a South Atlantic Conference baseball doubleheader over visiting Tusculum on a snowy Saturday afternoon at Hennon Field.

Lincoln Memorial (16-7, 4-5 SAC) wins the three-game weekend series over 2-1 after Tusculum posted a 5-3 victory in Friday's opener.  LMU won Saturday by scores of 4-0 and 15-7.

Game 1: Lincoln Memorial 4, Tusculum 0

After Bobiak gave up a lead-off single to Tusculum's Zack Finchum he proceeded to retire the next 18 batters in leading LMU to a 4-0 win in Saturday's first game.

Bobiak improved to 5-0 on the season as he walked two and struck out six in the contest.

Nate Stinson hit a two-out, two-run single in the bottom of the first inning and the duo of Chris Salvey and Henry Moore connected on back-to-back solo home runs in the fourth.

The only trouble Bobiak faced was in the sixth inning when Tusculum loaded the bases thanks to a two-out error, followed by a walk to Daulton Martin and Nate Montgomery was hit by a pitch.  Bobiak got out of the jam with a ground out to end the threat.

Tusculum starter Zach Sanders (2-2) suffered the loss after going five innings, allowed six hits, four runs, one walk and one strikeout.  TC reliever Colin Johnston blanked the Railsplitters for the final three innings as he scattered two hits with a walk and two strikeouts.

Game 2: Lincoln Memorial 15, Tusculum 7

Lincoln Memorial used an eight-run, third inning to rally the Railsplitters to a 15-7 win in the night-cap to complete Saturday's sweep over Tusculum.

LMU racked up 15 hits, including eight alone in the third frame which including a solo home run from Adams and a three-run blast off the bat of Logan Augustine.

LMU jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning thanks to a two-run single from Will Reddick.

Tusculum answered with six runs in the top of the second inning as TC sent 11 Pioneers to the plate.  Edison Cabrera plated TC's first run of the day with his third double of the season.  Martin posted a two run single, while TC also got RBI hits from Colby Skeen, Montgomery and Jarel McDade as the Pioneers led 6-3.

But in the bottom of the third, LMU sent a dozen batters to the plate to retake the lead at 11-6 and never turned back.  LMU added a run in the fourth and three more in the sixth.  TC got a run in the top of the fifth on McDade's lead-off homer, his second of the year.

LMU reliever Matt Mullenbach picked up the win as he tossed the final 5 1/3 innings where he allowed four hits, one run, one walk and seven strikeouts.  TC's Mitch McCain suffered the loss in the relief to move to 2-2 on the season.

Reddick led four LMU players with multi-hit performances as he went 3-for-3 in the contest.

Martin led Tusculum with his 3-for-4 effort which included two singles and his third triple of the year.  Coupled with his walk in the opener, Martin has reached base safely in 33 consecutive games.

Tusculum returns home on Tuesday hosting King for a 4 p.m. contest at Pioneer Park.