HICKORY, N.C. – For the sixth time in South Atlantic Conference Tournament history, Lenoir-Rhyne enters the tourney as the number two seed when they take on Tusculum tomorrow at 4 p.m. The Bears are 11-8 as a number two seed and own a 61-41 all-time record in the league tournament.

This will be just the seventh time LR and Tusculum will square off in the SAC Tournament with LR holding a perfect 6-0 mark against the Pioneers. The last meetings between the two programs came back in 2017 in the opening round where the Bears came away with a 5-4 win over Tusculum.

LR has won eight SAC Tournaments but has struggled since the format was changed to single elimination back in 2018. LR is 0-3 in that span and the last SAC Tournament win came back in 2017 when they beat Newberry 3-2.
This is the 59^th all-time meeting between the two programs with LR holding a dominating 48-10 advantage, including a sweep of the Pioneers this year.

Lauren Rakes will get the ball for the Bears and has won 19 of her 22 decisions this season. Rakes is tied for the national lead with 276 strikeouts on the season and she earned four SAC Pitcher of the Week honors. Rakes was named First Team All-Conference and has allowed just 110 hits in 173.2 innings, an opponent batting average of .181.

In the circle for Tusculum will most likely be Emily Sappington who LR is familiar with. The lefty tossed a no-hitter against the Bears in 2021, keeping the Bears out of the hit column in 10-innings of a 1-0 Tusculum win.

The LR offense is led by a mix of old and new. Kylee Leonhardt and Savannah Moorefield are graduate students who make the offense go but freshmen Cassidy Wall, Julia Mardigian and Katelyn Rackard have made this a balanced lineup from top to bottom. Senior Hannah Jennings has had the best year of her career and Rakes also does some damage at the plate.

Moorefield is just nine hits away from breaking the program record for career hits while she needs just six runs to become the all-time leader in that category. When talking about all-time leaders, the conversation has to include Leonhardt who is the all-time leader in home runs, RBIs and slugging percentage with the Bears and is no stranger to Tournament success. In her career, Leonhardt has a .529 career batting average in NCAA Tournament games and has 10 RBIs in just five career NCAA Tournament games. Leonhardt has the most-ever hits in an NCAA Tournament game with four against Carson-Newman in 2018.

LR entered the weekend ranked No. 2 in the Southeast Regional rankings with the top two teams earning the right to host regional play. Anderson is currently the No. 1 seed with Wingate coming in at No. 3 as the SAC has dominated the region in 2022.

The Bears have advanced to the SAC Championship 10 times in history with eight championships in the 29 appearances. This will be the 30^th SAC Tournament for LR who looks for the first championship since 2013.