The Lindenwood baseball team was swept by Southwest Baptist in a doubleheader on Saturday by final scores of 13-9 and 5-4 respectively in Bolivar, Mo.
 
Nick Paulda led the squad with five hits including two doubles and three runs scored.  Kyle Teter drove in three runs on four hit including a home run and a triple.  Ryan Sosnowski and Conor Behrens each hit a home run and drove in a pair of runs.  The Lions walked a total of nine batters on the day while the Bearcats gave a free pass just two times.
 
Game one did not start off in favor of the Lions as Southwest Baptist scored six runs in the first two innings on seven hits.  Lindenwood covered a lot of ground in the top of the fourth after a Paulda single started the rally.  Paulda scored on groundout by Tyler Muehling, but the Lions stayed focused with two outs.  Paul Sherwood scored on an error by the shortstop and Behrens hammered a two-run home run to left field to cut the deficit to 6-4.  The Bearcats added a run in the bottom of the inning to pull ahead by three runs.
 
Southwest Baptist poured on the runs in the bottom of the fifth and accumulated four runs on four hits and one error to take an 11-4 lead.  Teter hit a two-out solo home run to left field in the top of the sixth inning and Sherwood drove in Paulda in the seventh inning to bring the Lions within five runs.  The Bearcats tallied two insurance runs in the bottom of the seventh to take a 13-6 lead.
 
Lindenwood kept fighting as Paulda drove in Teter in the top of the eighth to bring the deficit to five runs.  Teter added two more RBI in the top of the ninth, but the lead was too much to overcome as the Bearcats took game one by a 13-9 final.
 
The second game was more defensive than the opening game as the Bearcats scored the first run of the game in the bottom of the third inning on a two-out double.  Sam Baxter reached base in the fifth inning after a double down the left field line and later stole home to tie the game at 1-1.  Southwest Baptist hit two solo home runs in the bottom of the sixth to take a 3-1 lead and found the Lions struggling at the plate.
 
Wes Degener pulled the Lions within one run in the top of the eight with a sacrifice fly and Sosnowski hit a two-run blast over the left field wall to give Lindenwood a 4-3 lead.  The Lions failed to close out the game and the Bearcats won 5-4 on a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth.
 
The doubleheader loss sets Lindenwood back to 15-12 on the year and 7-7 in the MIAA while the Bearcats move to 17-8 on the season and 8-7 in conference play.  The final game of the three-game set in Bolivar, Mo. will start at 1 p.m. on Monday.