The Lindenwood baseball team earned two victories on Saturday with a 7-5 win over Albany State in the morning and a 15-6 defeat over Saint Leo later in the evening.

The Lions started game one against Albany State and continued to generate offense early.  Wes Degener started things off for the Lions with a leadoff double down the left field line and was driven in by Ryan Light who hit a ground-rule double.  Back-to-back walks loaded the bases for the Lions and Mike Wilson drew the third walk of the inning to score Light and give the Lions a 2-0 lead after the first inning.

The game was held scoreless until the bottom of the fourth inning when the Lions broke the game open.  Degener again led off the inning with a double, this time to left center and scored on a throwing error by the pitcher.  Light reached base via throwing error and later scored on a Wade Rothermich single to centerfield.  Rothermich moved up to second after Branden Sugar drew a walk and both runners crossed the plate on a Wilson double down the right field line.  Zac Perkins followed with a double of his own to bring in Wilson and the Lions held a 7-0 lead.

Dylan Terrell tossed six strong innings for the Lions including six strikeouts and surrendered two runs on six hits.  Albany State slowly put up runs to cut into the Lions lead, but it was too little too late as the Lions defeated the Golden Rams 7-5.  The Lions had to wait until 6 p.m. to play their second game of the day as Saint Leo and Montevallo faced off at 2:30 p.m.

Lindenwood quickly fell behind by surrendering a two-run home run in the first inning, but immediately responded.  Wilson drove in Perkins on a single and Degener hit a bases-loaded single to bring in Wilson and Quinones to give the Lions a 3-2 lead.  Saint Leo regained the lead in the bottom of the second with three runs of its own.  Lindenwood scored just one run in the top of the third inning off a Rothermich double that scored Light to pull the Lions within one run.  Saint Leo scored for the third consecutive inning to take a 6-4 lead after three innings, but would not cross the plate the rest of the game.

The Lions pulled within one run again in the top of the fifth on a Quinones single through the right side of the infield to score Light.  A big sixth inning was the turning point in the ball game that started with a Degener single up the middle.  Prindle singled to the opposite side and was later thrown out at third on a Mike Ehrhard single, but allowed for Degener to score and tie the game at 6-6.  Light singled to center and Ehrhard moved to third base to force a Saint Leo pitching change.

With a new pitcher in the game, both runners moved up on a wild pitch including Ehrhard who crossed the plate to give the Lions the lead.  Light scored on a Quinones single to left center and a Shawn Hagarty single up the middle drove in Quinones and Perkins.  Lindenwood scored five runs on six hits and two errors to go ahead 10-6.

The Lions added more insurance runs in the seventh inning which started with a Prindle single up the middle followed by an Ehrhard single to right center that moved Prindle to third.  Light laid down a sacrifice bunt to bring in Prindle and Ehrhard later scored on a wild pitch.  Lindenwood scored its final three runs in the top of the eighth inning.  Quinones singled to start the inning and scored later on an error by the first baseman.  Prindle put the nail in the coffin with a two run blast to left field and a 15-6 Lindenwood victory.

Lindenwood outscored its opponents this weekend 41-15 which was spearheaded by three Lion sluggers.  The trio of Rothermich, Prindle, and Degener went 22-for-42 (.524) with six homeruns, 20 RBI, five doubles, and 15 runs scored.  Geoff Hartlieb threw seven strong innings allowing just one run on two hits and five strikeouts.

Lindenwood improves to 5-5 after the two wins.  The Lions will travel to Jefferson City, Mo. to open up MIAA play with Lincoln University on Friday at 3:00 p.m.