The Lindenwood baseball team used a familiar formula to win its opening round game at the 2017 NCAA Division II National Championships. The Lions grabbed an early lead and got great pitching as they defeated Delta State by a 4-0 score on Saturday night in Grand Prairie, Texas.
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Lindenwood scored first for the fifth straight time in this year's postseason, and for the fourth time in that span it took the lead in the first inning. The first batter of the inning,
Wes Degener, reached second on an error, and two straight two-out singles by
Drew Quinones and
Kyle Teter allowed Degener to score.
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The Lions added three more runs in the second and third innings. In the second,
Sam Baxter started a rally with a triple, and scored on a sacrifice fly from
Paul Sherwood. In the third, Lindenwood loaded the bases with no one out. The Lions scored one run on a double-play ball, and then Baxter laid down a perfect bunt to drive in the fourth run of the game.
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While Lindenwood got its offense going early in the game, the Lions starter
Brendan Feldmann didn't allow Delta State to do the same. The Statesmen came into the game hitting .320 as a team, and ranking 17th nationally by scoring eight runs a game. Feldmann set the tone early though, retiring the first 11 batters he faced.
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In the fourth, Delta State got its first two base runners with a hit by pitch and a double. Feldmann struck out All-American Clay Casey to strand the runners. The Statesmen also got two runners on in both the fifth and six innings, but Feldmann continued to get the big out each time.
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With Delta State having the top of its lineup up in the eighth inning, Lindenwood went with a fresh pitcher and brought in closer
Connor Law. The Statesmen greeted Law with a double just inside the left-field line. Law settled down and got three straight fly outs to leave another runner in scoring position.
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In the ninth, Law completed the shutout, ending the game on a groundout and stranding one more runner on second. The shutout was the third of the season for the Lions, and was just the second time that Delta State has been blanked this year.
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Feldmann threw one of the top games of his career against the high-scoring Statesmen, who are the highest remaining nationally-ranked team in the tournament. He allowed just two hits in seven innings. He struck out four batters and walked two, and picked up his 10th win of the year. Law went the final two innings, allowing two hits and striking out one. The duo of Feldmann and Law held Delta State to just four-of-31 (.129) batting for the game.
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Offensively, Baxter led Lindenwood with three hits, one run, and one RBI. Teter also had one run and one RBI, to go with two hits, and Quinones had four singles and one run. Degener had a multi-hit game with two hits.
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Lindenwood improves to 40-18 on the season, its first 40-win season since 2010. The Lions will be in action again on Monday evening with a 7 p.m. game against West Chester.
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