The No. 7 Lindenwood baseball team (33-7) will enter the Midwest Regional as the No. 4 seed in the tournament. The Lions will face Davenport (30-14) on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. at Lou Brock Sports Complex in St. Charles, Mo.
Lindenwood is coming off a GLVC Championship last weekend, in which the Lions took down then-No. 5 Illinois Springfield (37-6) in a thrilling 8-6 victory in the title game. The Prairie Stars dropped to No. 11 in the national poll, and sit atop the regional rankings. No. 23 Trevecca Nazarene (32-9) won the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (GMAC) tournament and currently holds the No. 2 spot in the region.
Northwood went 0-2 in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) tournament this past weekend, as they fell from No. 3 to No. 6 in the Midwest region. Davenport swept the GLIAC tournament to jump into the No. 3 spot in the rankings. Quincy (28-13) currently ranks No. 5 in the region after going 1-2 at the GLVC Championships.
The Lions put together a wild, eighth-inning rally to score five runs and secure a late lead in the GLVC Championship game. Lindenwood held on for the victory, as the Lions capped off a perfect 4-0 record in the conference tournament. Lindenwood has seen contribution from all areas of the game of baseball. As a team, the Lions are hitting .315, while the pitching staff is boasting an ERA of 3.55 thorough 40 games.
Niko Marshall is leading the team with a 1.78 ERA in his 35.1 innings of work. Marshall has pitched the majority of his games from the bullpen, as he holds a 5-1 record with one save. The St. Louis, Mo. native tallied 36 strikeouts and just seven walks.
Tyler Cassmeyer is a perfect 6-0 on the bump in his 52.2 innings pitched. A native of Taos, Mo., Cassmeyer holds a 2.73 ERA with 32 strikeouts and a .241 opponent batting average.
The duo of
Blake Beckmann and
Kyle Hentis has been strong since the two stepped on campus, and it is holding true in their final season. Beckmann is 7-1 with an impressive 68 strikeouts to just seven walks in his 57.2 innings pitched. Hentis is 4-2 on the season through 44.2 innings of work, as he has 47 strikeouts and just 12 walks for a 3.43 ERA.
Justin Taylor closed out the championship game on Sunday, as he was the only Lions to earn first-team all-GLVC honors. Taylor is 4-0 with four saves in his 26.2 innings pitched from the pen.
Offensively, the Lions are a dangerous team due to the patience at the plate and the aggressiveness on the bases. Lindenwood drew 188 walks and registered 67 hit batters through 40 games. The Lions have accumulated 104 stolen bases, while the opposition has posted just 30.
Mitchell Krebs leads Lindenwood at the dish with a .417 batting average with a .507 on-base percentage.
Kolby Schulte drove in a team-high 34 runs, as he is batting .375 with seven doubles, two triples, and two homers.
Beau Collier is posting a .366 batting average, while also leading the team with 17 stolen bases.
Lindenwood went 25-7 in the GLVC, before sweeping the tournament to claim the conference title. The Lions has compiled a home record of 22-1 during the 2021 season, and hold a 35-1 home record since the start of the 2020 season. The first round of the 2021 Midwest Regional will begin on Thursday, May 27 at Lou Brock Sports Complex in St. Charles, Mo.
