HARROGATE, Tenn. --- Gabe Gray went 7-for-9 on the day with four RBI including the game-winner in the opener as Lincoln Memorial swept a South Atlantic Conference baseball doubleheader over visiting Tusculum at Lamar Hennon Field.
LMU (21-11, 13-6 SAC) won the opener 10-9 in 11 innings when Gray was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded for the walk-off. The Raisplitters used a seven-run inning a solid pitching effort from starter Eli Edds with a 9-2 win in the second game.
Game 1: Lincoln Memorial 10, Tusculum 9 (11 innings)
Lincoln Memorial's Gabe Gray recorded three RBI including his walk-off hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 11th inning to lead the Railsplitters to a 10-9 win.
Gray went 4-for-5 to lead an 18-hit effort by LMU as the Railsplitters rallied from behind on two occasions.
Tusculum accounted for 14 hits in the contest led by Alejandro Ponte's 4-for-5 performance including a pair of doubles while Landon Dockery had three singles to pace the charge.
LMU jumped out to an early 3-0 lead, scoring two runs in the first inning and one more in the second.
Tusculum answered with five straight runs scoring once in the third, three times in the fourth and once in the fifth to take a 5-3 advantage. In the fourth, Evan Cage drew a two-out walk, stole second and scored on Jack Gagen's RBI single. Evan Goins hit a two-run homer to right field as the Pioneers led 4-3. Ponte doubled and later scored on Kolby Watson's RBI grounder in the fifth as TU extended the lead to 5-3.
In the bottom of the sixth, LMU used five hits to score three runs to regain the lead at 6-5. They tacked on two more runs in the seventh on RBI hits by Josh Marmo and Ronny Matti to extend the LMU advantage to 8-5.
Tusculum chipped away at the deficit scoring once in the eighth on Jake Smith's sacrifice fly to score Cage from third to make it an 8-6 contest.
In the top of the ninth, Ponte led off with an infield single. Nathan Hayworth pinch ran for Ponte and he moved to third on Mason Johnson's pinch-hit double. Hayworth scored on Kolby Watson's RBI groundout and Johnson would tag up from third and score on Cage's sacrifice fly to knot the score at 8-8.
In the bottom of the ninth, Alex Kowalkski drew a lead-off walk as TU went to the bullpen for reliever Will Webb. Webb surrendered a bunt single to place runners at first and second. But Webb got out of the jam with a foul out, followed by a double play to end the threat and send the game to extra innings.
In the top of the 10th inning, Smith led off with an infield single and moved to second on a failed pickoff attempt. Dockery drove him in with a RBI single as Tusculum led 9-8.
LMU answered in the bottom of the frame when Gray hit a one-out double and scored on Caleb Jordan's RBI single to tie the game again at 9-9.
In the bottom of the 11th, Matti and Ayden Jackson got aboard on back-to-back, one-out singles and Kevin Fernandez loaded the bases when he was hit by a pitch. Gray stepped in and was hit by Webb's first offering to score Matti from third with the game-winning run.
LMU reliever Lucas Smith picked up the victory as he pitched the last two innings where he allowed one unearned run on two hits with three strikeouts. Webb suffered the loss as we went 2.1 innings, allowed two runs on five hits with one strikeout.
Matti went 4-for-6 for LMU while Jordan, Brady Morse and Marmo tallied two hits apiece.
Tusculum had two-hit performances from Cage and Goins while Watson drew a pair of walks in the loss.
Game 2: Lincoln Memorial 9, Tusculum 2
Lincoln Memorial used a seven-run, sixth inning, while starter Eli Edds tossed a gem as the Railsplitters posted a 9-2 victory in the night cap.
LMU blew open a 2-1 contest in the sixth, scoring seven runs on seven hits, coupled with a pair of Tusculum errors to put the game out of reach.
The Railsplitters got on the board first in the second inning as Peyton Mullannix led off with a triple and later scored on a Marmo sacrifice fly. LMU made it 2-0 in the third frame as Gray singled and later scored on a Morse RBI single.
Tusculum cut the deficit in half when Dockery doubled to move Smith to third base in the fifth. Smith would cross the plate on Ponte's RBI ground out to make it a 2-1 contest.
LMU loaded the bases in the bottom of the fifth against starter Brice Anders. With no outs and the bases full, reliever Cooper Emery game on and got out of trouble with pair of strikeouts and an infield pop up to keep it a one-run affair.
Edds retired the Pioneers in order in the sixth, before LMU exploded for seven runs in the bottom of the frame to make it a 9-1 game.
Tusculum (11-20, 5-14 SAC) scratched a run in the seventh when Goins singled and later scored on Ryan Ortega's RBI hit to provide the final scoring margin.
LMU finished the game with a dozen hits while Tusculum was held to five hits in the night-cap.
Gray went 3-for-4, while Jordan and Mullannix had two hits apiece.
Edds went 6.2 innings, allowed two runs on five hits, three walks and seven strikeouts to improve to 4-3 on the season.
The two teams will wrap up the series on Sunday with a 2 p.m. contest.
