Lincoln Railsplitters defeat Southeast 11-1

[April 16, 2021]  The Lincoln Railsplitters baseball team improved to 3-0 on the season Thursday with an 11-1 win over the Southeast Spartans.

Wyatt O’Donoghue was on the mound for the Railsplitters and he wasted no time striking out the side in the top of the first inning.

Lincoln catcher Sean Raffa makes a dive for home plate as the Spartans score a run.

In the bottom of the first inning, Keagan Ferguson drew a walk with two outs before cleanup hitter Sean Raffa stepped to the plate and crushed a triple to right field. Ferguson came sprinting home with the first run of the game and Lincoln was up 1-0. The courtesy runner for Raffa, Scotty Battin, was stranded at third when Seth Tungate was called out on a foul tip to end the first inning.

In the top of the second inning, O’Donoghue repeated his performance on the mound by striking out the side once again.

In the bottom of the second inning the Railsplitters busted the game wide open by scoring eight runs. A leadoff walk to Andrew Graue started the inning. Graue quickly stole second base and following a pop out by Devyn Snow, Trey Schilling tattooed the ball and hustled into third for a triple, scoring Graue with the second run of the game. Daulton Miller drew a walk and with runners at first and third, the top of the order was due up again. Dylan Singleton smashed the ball up the middle and both runners scored. Singleton stretched the play into a double and he was standing on second with the Railsplitters up 4-0.

Singleton then stole third base with Trent Koehler up to bat. Koehler would draw a walk and with runners at the corners again the Railsplitters were a threat. With the Spartans pitcher and catcher already rattled, Singleton stole home and Koehler scrambled over to second base. The Lincoln lead was now 5-0.

Ferguson then stepped into the batter’s box and he hit the ball hard to the shortstop. The shortstop was credited with an error but the ball was crushed and booted to the outfield grass so quickly that Koehler did not have a chance to score. Koehler stopped at third base. Ferguson wasted no time stealing second base to put the Railsplitters in a comfortable position to score once again. Raffa drew a walk to load the bases for Seth Tungate. Tungate was aggressive at the plate and he smacked the first pitch down the left field line for a solid double. Two runs scored and Lincoln was up 7-0 with just one out in the inning.

The Spartans changed pitchers with Graue due up for the second time in the inning. Graue popped out to the first baseman. Snow then stepped up to the plate with runners on second and third and two outs. Snow’s hard hit ground ball to the shortstop resulted in yet another error on the shortstop and two more runs scored on the play. Lincoln’s lead was now 9-0.

Schilling ended the inning on a pop out to the catcher but Lincoln was well on their way to another victory.

O’Donoghue took the mound to start the third inning against Southeast but he felt a little discomfort in his arm throwing warmups so he was removed from the game. Tanner Strampp came in to relieve O’Donoghue. The Spartans would score a run off Strampp on a sacrifice fly, making the score 9-1.

In addition to three walks in the inning, Strampp would induce two pop outs and get a strikeout to end the inning and avoid any further damage.

The bottom of the third inning began with Miller drawing a walk. He stole second and eventually went to third on a pitch in the dirt. With two outs, Ferguson dropped a single into left field on a 3-2 count and Miller scored from third. That would be the only run in the third inning for Lincoln and on to the fourth inning the Railsplitters head with a 10-1 lead.

Third baseman Trey Schilling catches the pop up with shortstop Trent Koehler looking on.

Ferguson would take the mound for the Railsplitters in the top of the fourth inning. The wind was picking up and the temperature was dropping, so Ferguson worked quickly to retire batters. He induced a quick groundout to Koehler at shortstop for out number one. He then retired the next two batters via strikeouts and the Spartans half of the inning was quickly over.

The Railsplitters did not score in the bottom of the fourth inning.

In the top of the fifth inning, Ferguson took the mound for Lincoln again. He allowed a leadoff double and even though the Spartans got another hit off Ferguson, they failed to score in the inning.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, Miller opened things with a walk. Singleton singled. Koehler walked. And then Ferguson singled in Miller to end the game. Lincoln wins easily 11-1 over Southeast.

Keagan Ferguson (1-0) was the winning pitcher. He struck out three batters and allowed two hits in two innings of work.

Wyatt O’Donoghue started the game. He worked the first two innings and struck out the six batters he faced.

Tanner Strampp also recorded a strikeout in his inning of work.

The Railsplitters had seven hits and no errors in the game.

Keagan Ferguson picks up the win versus Southeast.

Dylan Singleton was 2-for-4 with two RBIs and one run scored. Keagan Ferguson was 2-for-3 with two RBIs and two runs scored. Seth Tungate was 1-for-3 with two RBIs and a run scored. Sean Raffa and Trey Schilling each had triples for Lincoln.

Lincoln improves to 3-0 on the season.

[Teena Lowery]