With the regular season winding down the Lindenwood Lions are trying to position themselves for the HAAC postseason tournament. This past weekend at Fayette, Missouri will go a long way. The Lions swept all four weekend games against the Central Methodist Eagles to move within just percentage points of first place in the HAAC. Lindenwood won game one 12-2, game two 18-14, game three 7-1 and the series finale, 11-6.
Game One
In the opening game of the series the Lions jumped out to an early lead scoring a pair of runs in the first inning. They would add a run in the second and two more in the third to take a 5-0 lead. Central Methodist would score two runs in the bottom of the third and that is all it could muster on the day.
Lindenwood would put together a five run inning together in the sixth and capped off the win with two runs in the seventh. Zach Malawey would do the rest for the Lions on the hill pitching six innings in the, 12-2 win. Malawey gave up just two runs on seven hits while striking out seven in the win.
Justin Lamar and Randy Serrato would each have three hits on the day while Casey Colbert and Daniel Sandello each drove in a pair of runs.
Game Two
The second game of the day was a wild affair that took nine innings to complete, had 32 combined runs scored, 35 combined hits and seven total errors. Lindenwood would win the game 18-14 but it wasn't easy.
The first two innings went pretty quickly with neither team scoring a run. But that all changed in the bottom of the third. Central Methodist would score four runs to take a 4-0 lead but the Lions answered right back with a five run fourth to take the lead, 5-4.
Lindenwood would score a run in the fifth to extend the lead to two but the Eagles erased that lead with a four run bottom of the fifth to take an, 8-6 lead. The Eagles would lead going into the sixth inning but the Lions exploded for six runs.
Holding onto the four run lead turned out to be not that easy for the Lions. Central Methodist would cut the lead to one with a three-run sixth inning but Lindenwood would bring across two insurance runs in the top of the seventh to extend the lead to, 14-11.
Just as the rest of the game had gone, the Eagles tied up the game with three runs in the seventh inning to send the game to extra innings. For the first time since the second frame neither team could score a run in the eighth.
The ninth inning started with back-to-back singles by Frank Corpus and Malawey while Colbert would reach on an Eagle error which also scored Corpus. Next up was Dan Harris who connected on a three-run home run to give the Lions an, 18-14 lead.
Jeff Wilkins would surrender a double in the bottom of the ninth but that would be it and the Lions would escape with the 18-14 win.
Every starter but one had at least one hit led by Corpus, who went 3-for-4 with two home runs, four runs scored and three RBIs. Harris and Malawey each hit a home run and drove in three runs.
Game 3
The first game on Sunday started with the Lions scoring three runs in the top of the first inning to take the lead. Lindenwood would score another pair of runs in the fourth to jump out to a 5-0 lead. The Eagles would bring across a single run in the bottom of the fifth, which was their only run. In the sixth the Lions would bring across the final two runs of the game and would win it, 7-1.
For the second straight game every hitter in the Lions' lineup had at least one hit led by Justin Lamar who was 2-for-3 with two runs scored and a RBI. Corpus would drive in a pair of runs while Malawey and Cody Anderson drove in one.
Evan Vinyard started on the hill for the Lions and went all seven innings surrendering one run on seven hits and striking out 11.
Game 4
In the series finale the two teams would trade two run innings in the second before the Lions would take the lead in the third with a three run inning. With the Lions leading 5-2, Central Methodist would scamper across three runs to tie the score.
It didn't take the visitors long to regain the lead as the Lions would bring across three more runs in the top of the fifth inning to take the lead, 8-5. The Lion offense would score three insurance runs in the top of the seventh and they would hold on to the 11-6 win.
Randy Serrato would lead the Lion offense with a 2-for-4 day at the plate with a home run and three RBIs. Shelby Anderson, Carlos Pianetta and Malawey each had three hits. Andey Tretter started for the Lions and threw 5 2/3 of an inning for the win.
With the four wins over the weekend the Lions improve their overall record to 33-12 and 17-7 in conference play.
Series Notes:
The Lions outscored CMU 5-0 in the first innings … Vinyard's struck out 11 hitters for the second time this season … Lindenwood pitchers struck out 26 hitters in four games while CMU pitchers walked 25 Lions … the Lions hit 10 doubles in four games … the offense had at least ten hits in every game …
Justin Lamar scored seven runs in four games and also drive in five runs … four Lions drove in at least five runs over the weekend.
