KODAK, Tenn. --- Timmy Wages went 3-for-4, scored four runs and drove in three more in leading second-seeded Lincoln Memorial to an 11-7 win over No. 5 seed Tusculum in the 2017 Pilot / Flying J South Atlantic Conference Baseball Tournament at Smokies Stadium.
LMU (30-17) will face the winner of the Newberry/Mars Hill game on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Tusculum will face No. 7 seed Carson-Newman in an elimination game on Saturday starting at noon.
The Railsplitters rallied from an early 2-0 deficit by scoring 11 unanswered runs and held off a late inning TC surge to post the victory.
Wages reached base in all five of his plate appearances including a single, a double, a home run, a walk and was hit by a pitch. LMU teammates Eric Kalman, Muta Crusoe and Tyler Adams recorded two hits apiece as the Railsplitters finished the game with 14 hits.
The Pioneers (28-19) also had a 14-hit day, led by Jeremy Glore's 3-for-4 performance. Nick Lacina, Daulton Martin and Zach Finchum joined Glore with multiple-hit performances for Tusculum.
Tusculum got on the board with a run in the first inning thanks to a lead-off single by Glore and later scored on Bradley Evans' two-out single up the middle. TC made it 2-0 when Dante Key homered for a second day in a row, a solo blast to right field for a 2-0 Pioneer lead.
The Railsplitters answered with three runs in the bottom of the second inning thanks to three hits, including Kalman's RBI single as LMU led 3-2. The Splitters added two more runs in the third thanks to another RBI single from Kalman and a run-scoring double off the bat of Crusoe to make it a 5-2 contest.
Wages belted a solo homer in the fifth for his 12th round-tripper of the season and a 6-2 LMU advantage. In the bottom of the sixth, LMU sent 10 batters to the plate, scored five runs on two doubles and five walks to vault out to an 11-2 lead.
Tusculum chipped away at the deficit, scoring a run in the seventh and four more in the eighth, including RBI singles from John Topoleski, Edison Cabrera, Lacina and Martin as the Pioneers trailed by four at 11-7.
But that would be as Tusculum would get as LMU reliever Chase Randolph recorded the final four outs of the game, including the side in order in the ninth to secure the win.
LMU starter Brandon Jean overcame a rough start to pitch seven innings, scattered eight this, three runs, two earned, five walks and four strikeouts to improve to 8-3 on the year. TC starter Christian Raasch (2-6) suffered the loss as he allowed three runs on three hits in his two innings of work.
Tusculum junior Spencer Brothers pitched 1 2/3 shutout innings where he scattered three hits in his 34-pitch performance.
