The Lindenwood baseball team will be at home on Tuesday before it goes on the road for a mid-week game on Wednesday, and will come back home to host a three-game series at Lou Brock Sports Complex this weekend.
 
Last Week
 
The Lions went 1-4 on the week, dropping to 16-22 on the season and 10-18 in conference. Lindenwood began the week hosting Harris-Stowe in the second battle of the season between the teams, but after gaining an early advantage, the Lions would lose the barn-burner 18-13. Lindenwood bounced back the next day in Jefferson City, Mo. against Lincoln. The Lions drilled three homers and Brendan Kleekamp went the distance in the 10-2 victory. Despite holding Washburn to nine total hits in the first two games of the weekend, the Lions were unable to push many runs across the board. Lindenwood left 33 runners on base throughout the weekend to eventually be swept by the Ichabods, losing by two runs or less in each contest.
 
The first game of the week saw the Lions jump out to a 7-2 lead after five innings of play with the help of Rayce Singbush and his three singles and four RBIs. Andrew Eilers and Lucas Tibbs combined to pitch the first five innings of the game. Tibbs pitched three innings, striking out five and walking none. The visiting Hornets piled on runs in the sixth off Lindenwood pitchers Wade Brewer and Austin Meine, holding a 9-7 advantage after the frame and 12-7 after the top of the seventh thanks to three extra-base hits. The Lions regained the lead in their half of the seventh when Zac Perkins recorded an RBI-groundout, but Harris-Stowe scored six more times in the eighth to lead 18-13. Each team had a base-runner in the ninth, but the scoring was finished as the Lions dropped the non-conference battle.
 
Lindenwood rebounded in game two of the week at Lincoln. Singbush, Mike Ehrhard , and Drew Quinones all homered as the Lions led 5-0 through seven. After Kleekamp allowed his run of the game in the seventh, the Lions scored two more in the eighth and three in the ninth with hits from Paul Sherwood, Wes Degener, Jackson Fuller, and Singbush. Kleekamp allowed an unearned run in the bottom of the ninth to make the score 10-2, but completed the game and finished with nine strikeouts.
 
Both teams scored early in game one against Washburn, but would eventually turn into a pitcher's duel. Washburn scored an unearned run in the bottom of the first, but the Lions responded in the second when Singbush stole home after Kyle Teter swiped second. After exchanging runs in each team's next inning of offense, Washburn scored twice in the third to take a 4-2 lead when the Ichabods took advantage of a wild pitch getting away from Lindenwood catcher Ryan Sosnowski. Pitcher Brendan Feldmann didn't allow a hit his last five innings of work, but the Lindenwood offense couldn't push any runs across as it left eight men on base. Feldman went the distance striking out nine, while Teter and Quinones each collected a pair of hits.
 
The Lions got another solid pitching performance in game two against Washburn, but the offense couldn't muster enough runs. Starter Geoff Hartlieb retired the first seven Ichabod hitters before allowing his first base-runner. After striking out the first hitter of the fourth, Hartlieb walked three hitters and surrendered a base hit to give Washburn a 2-0 lead.  Lindenwood worked the bases loaded in the sixth, which forced Washburn starter Mike Hefferan from the game. However, the Lions could only score once when Nathan Prindle walked to make the score 2-1. The Ichabods scored again in the seventh when a single scored the lead-off walk Hartlieb gave up to begin the inning. Degener tripled in the eighth, which would've scored a run to cut in the Washburn lead, but Fuller grounded into a double play just before the at-bat, and Degener would be stranded. Hartlieb threw the eight-inning complete game and struck out nine, but the Lions stranded 13 runners throughout the game. Ehrhard and Teter both had two hits, while Teter also stole a base.
 
Trying to salvage the rubber game of the weekend series, Connor Law threw 7.1 innings on the mound. The teams traded runs the entire game. Quinones got the Lions on the board in the first with a single that scored Ehrhard, but the Ichabods scored twice on a hit and error by Sosnowski. Each team got an extra-base hit in the second to score, but Washburn still held a 4-2 advantage. The next three innings, Lindenwood cut into the Washburn lead and eventually led 6-4 on a Quinones two-run double. Washburn scored a run in the sixth and in the eighth, forcing Law from the game. Devin Breihan pitched the final 3.1 innings for the Lions, and only surrendered two hits. Unfortunately for Lindenwood, those two hits came in the bottom of the 11th to score the winning run as Washburn swept the Lions.
 
On the Season
 
Prindle still paces the team with a .365 batting average, .494 on-base percentage, and .762 slugging percentage. The senior leads the team with nine homers and 13 doubles, and shares the team-lead in triple with five with Degener. Prindle also leads the team with 96 total bases, 42 RBIs, 50 runs scored and 11 hit by pitches. Quinones and Degener share the team-lead with 52 hits apiece, and each have eight doubles. Degener has drawn a team-high 31 walks on the season.
 
Prindle ranks in the top-10 in the MIAA in six categories, including batting slugging percentage, on-base percentage, runs scored, doubles, triples, and hit by pitches. Prindle's 50 runs scored is second in the conference.
 
Feldman currently holds a 1.71 ERA in his 31.2 innings of work, while Law leads the team with five wins, 48 strikeouts, and 60 innings. Hartlieb is third on the team in innings pitched, and has pitched the most complete games with three. Law is fourth in the MIAA in ERA, fifth with a .226 batting average against, eighth in innings pitched, and 10th in wins. Kleekamp is also 10th in innings pitched in the conference.
 
This Week in Lindenwood Baseball
 
4/19/16 –Lincoln at Lou Brock Sports Complex in St. Charles Mo. – 6 p.m.
 
4/20/16 –Missouri S&T in Rolla, Mo. – 2 p.m.
 
4/22/16 –Emporia State at Lou Brock Sports Complex in St. Charles, Mo. – 6 p.m.
 
4/23/16 –Emporia State at Lou Brock Sports Complex in St. Charles, Mo. – 1 p.m.
 
4/24/16 -Emporia State at Lou Brock Sports Complex in St. Charles, Mo. – 12 p.m.
 
The Lions host Lincoln in the second game of the season-long three-game series on Tuesday. Lindenwood took down the Blue Tigers last week by a score of 10-2 as it got a complete-game effort out of Kleekamp.
 
For their second game of the week, the Lions turnaround the next day to travel to Missouri S&T for the second and final contest between the teams. Back on March 8, the Lions won a 5-4 game. Each team scored two runs in the first inning, but a single by Ehrhard in the third gave Lindenwood a 3-2 lead. After adding a couple more, the Lions led 5-4 until the seventh when the Miners cut into the lead scoring two of their own to only trail by one. Breihan came in relief and threw a perfect 2.1 innings to end the game and secure the victory for Lindenwood.
 
Emporia State comes to town this weekend for the team's only series of the season. In 2015, the teams matched up in the MIAA conference tournament for a best-two-of-three set. Lindenwood rallied in game two to win 7-3 after losing the first game, but fell in the deciding game 9-6 to close out the year 27-25.
 
MIAA Players of the Week
 
March 21-27 – Hitter of the Week – Nathan Prindle - Lindenwood
April 4-10 – Pitcher of the Week – Connor Law – Lindenwood
 
*MIAA Players of the Week will be announced each Tuesday afternoon at TheMIAA.com
 
**National Rankings will be released each Tuesday at NCAA.org
 
Follow the Lions at lindenwoodlions.com, on Twitter (@LU_Lions), and on Instagram (Lindenwood_Lions).