Forest City, N.C.----Lincoln Memorial University senior left-hander Brandon Cowan held the second-seeded Wingate University Bulldogs to only four hits Thursday afternoon, leading the fifth-seeded Railsplitters to a 5-2 victory on day one of the 2013 Food Lion SAC baseball tournament at McNair Field. LMU improves to 23-23 overall, while the Bulldogs fall to 29-19 on the season. 

Lincoln Memorial will face the winner of Thursday night’s Tusculum vs. Newberry contest Friday at 7:30 p.m. Wingate will take on top-seeded Catawba Friday at 12 p.m. The Indians lost to sixth-seeded Carson-Newman 5-1 in the day’s first game. 

Scott Miller was two-for-three with a double, RBI and two runs scored to lead the LMU attack. Curt Fuqua added a double, RBI and run scored for the Railsplitters, while Cody Baker was one-for-four with a triple and run scored. 

The Bulldogs were held to four singles on the afternoon. Michael Godinez was one-for-two while also drawing a walk. Eric Serra, Bill Krebs and Blake Prince added singles for Wingate, while Brad Cherry drove in the lone run. 

LMU got on the board in the top of the first. Miller lined a one-out double to right center, then went to third on a flyout from Fuqua. He would score on a wild pitch to make it 1-0. 

The Railsplitters added four runs in the fifth to take a 5-0 lead. The first two hitters were retired with a flyout and strikeout. A pair of two out walks, followed by an RBI single from Miller made it 2-0. Fuqua followed with an RBI single to right center to push the advantage to three. A Wingate throwing error would allow two more runs to score, giving the Railsplitters a 5-0 lead. 

Wingate got on the board in the fifth. Josh Clark drew a leadoff walk, then went to third on a Prince single. He would score on Cherry’s RBI groundout. An LMU error would allow Prince to score, making it 5-2. 

Cowan threw 145 pitches on the afternoon, striking out six and walking five while allowing one earned run on four hits, improving to 5-2. Junior right-hander Stephen Vaughan took the loss for Wingate, falling to 4-3. He allowed three earned runs on five hits in 4 2/3 innings, striking out four and walking three.