ST. CHARLES, Mo. – The Lindenwood baseball team (15-18, 3-7 OVC) opened their series against Western Illinois (8-23, 3-7 OVC) with a 5-2 win at the Lou Brock Sports Complex on Friday evening. The Lions have now won three of their last four conference games.

Josh Newell was once again the headline, with the defending OVC Pitcher of the Week picking up his fifth win of the season after allowing just two runs on seven hits with a trio of punch outs through eight innings of work. Aaron Jungers finished the job, retiring the Western side in order in the top of the ninth to pick up his second save of the year.

Offensively, the Lions collected nine hits as Will Geary led the way with a three-hit, two-RBI performance. Tyler Ellis (2-3) and William Zareh (2-4) also enjoyed multi-hit outings.

How it Happened
Outside of two Liam Bushey hits for the Leathernecks, neither side recorded a base runner through the first three and a half innings. Will Geary reached first on a bunt single in the bottom of the fourth to give the Lions their first hit, but he was unable to score after a hard line out to the shortstop ended the inning.

However, after Josh Newell tossed his fifth shutout inning to begin the game, Lindenwood surged into the lead with a four-run, five-hit bottom of the fifth. All nine LU batters came to the plate in the frame, beginning with Tyler Ellis who led off with a base hit.

William Zareh then singled with one out before a Filip Sarota base hit up the middle allowed Ellis to score from second base. Ethan Cantareira followed that up with a single of his own to bring home Zareh to put the Lions up 2-0.

With two outs, Cantareira swiped second base to set up a Will Geary two-RBI single to left field that extended the lead to 4-0. Geary advanced to scoring position on the throw to the cutoff man, but the Lindenwood was unable to add any more runs.

They would add one more in the bottom of the sixth, with Tyler Ellis doubling off the wall in right center before another William Zareh base hit put runners on the corners with one away. Filip Sarota then recorded his second RBI of the night with a sacrifice fly to left field that plated Owen Ralph, who had replaced Ellis on the base path.

Western tightened things up in the top of the seventh with a Cordell Coburn two-run homer to left center as Josh Newell allowed his first earned runs in over 19 innings pitched. The Leathernecks brought the tying run to the plate in the top of the eighth following consecutive two-out singles by Liam Bushey and Wandel Campana, but Newell was able to record the third out to strand both runners on base.

Aaron Jungers took over in the ninth and made quick work of the middle part of Western's order with a one-two-three inning, recording the game's final out with a swinging strikeout.

Next Up
Game two of this weekend's series against Western Illinois is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. on Saturday.