The Lindenwood baseball team struggled to maintain its early lead against Missouri Southern in a 12-7 loss on Friday afternoon at the Lou Brock Sports Complex in St. Charles, Mo.
 
Wes Degener led the team with three hits and three RBI while Ryan Sosnowski hit a two run blast as his only hit of the day.  Lindenwood tallied nine hits while Missouri Southern registered 15 hits.  Brendan Feldmann has a strong start to his day as he finished with seven strikeouts in five innings pitched and allowed five runs on six hits.
 
Drew Quinones reached base on a two-out single to left field and Sosnowski put the Lions on the board in the first inning with a missile over the leftfield wall for a two-run home run.  Degener drove in two runs in the second inning with a triple to right center and giving Lindenwood a 4-0 lead.  Missouri Southern battled back to tie the game at 4-4 after scoring two runs in the third and two more in the fourth.
 
Lindenwood regained the lead in the bottom of the fourth after Rayce Singbush scored on a groundout and Degener drove in Conor Behrens on a single to left field.  The visiting Lions chipped away at the Lindenwood lead with a run in the fifth and another in the sixth to tie the game again, this time at 6-6 after the sixth inning.  The seventh inning stood as the only scoreless frame of the day and Missouri Southern took a 9-6 lead after a three-run eighth inning.  The host Lions allowed three more runs in the top of the ninth to fall behind by six runs and the lone run in the bottom of the ninth was the final run scored in a 12-7 loss for Lindenwood.
 
Lindenwood falls to 6-5 on the year and now stand at 0-1 in the MIAA while Missouri Southern moves to 8-4 on the season and 1-0 in league play.  Lindenwood and Missouri Southern will begin game two on Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Lou Brock Sports Complex in St. Charles, Mo.