The Lindenwood baseball team won its final game at the Lou Brock Sports Complex this year in a thrilling 4-3 victory over Central Missouri.

Brendan Hehner tossed four solid innings for the Lions allowing just one run on five hits and struck out three Central Missouri batters.  The Lions were held to just two hits in through the first five innings but came through with a quality sixth inning.  Zac Perkins led off with a single and Wes Degener followed with a single.  Nathan Prindle hit a double down the left field line to bring in Perkins and Degener was thrown out at third after rounding the bag too hard to keep it a 1-1 tie.  Wade Rothermich drew a walk and Drew Quinones drew a walk to load the bases.  Ryan Light hit a sacrifice to deep center allowing Prindle to score and give the Lions a 2-1 lead after six innings of play.

Central Missouri tied the game in the seventh on an RBI single to left field and took the lead in the top of the eight on a double.  The Lions were down to their last out in the bottom of the eighth with runners at the corners.  Light hit a ground ball to the third baseman for what looked like the final out of the inning, but an errant throw allowed Light to reach base and Rothermich scored from third to tie the game at 3-3 heading into the final inning.

Matt Meier threw 1 1/3 strong innings to give the Lions a chance to win it in the bottom of the ninth.  Branden Sugar singled with one out and Kyle Kruger came in to pinch run to add speed on the base paths.  Central Missouri was concerned about the speed and in an attempt to pick off Kruger the ball got away and allowed for Kruger to reach second base.  Perkins hit a deep fly ball to center to move Kruger to third and set up the Lions for an exciting ending to the final regular season game of the year.  Degener worked a full count and poked a single to right field scoring Kruger and giving the Lions a 4-3 victory.

The Lions fell behind twice in the game but persisted to earn their 26^th win of the year heading into post-season play.  Senior Meier earned his first win of the year with his lockdown performance in the final two innings.  The Lions offense hit 12 doubles and three home runs over the four-game series this weekend.  Lindenwood honored 10 seniors after the game for their dedication and hard work through their careers in the Lions uniform.

The Sunday victory places Lindenwood at 26-23 on the year and 16-16 in the MIAA.  The Lions will wait for the conference tournament bracket to be released which will determine their opponent in the MIAA Tournament.