ST. CHARLES, Mo. – The Lindenwood baseball team (25-19, 10-8 OVC) completed the season sweep of Southern Illinois (17-26, 8-7 MVC) with a 12-2 run-rule victory at home on Tuesday afternoon. The Lions have now won 11 of their last 12 games and improved their record during the month of April to 13-3.
LU tallied 12 hits in the contest, with
Will Geary,
Filip Sarota, and
Owen Ralph leading the team with two hits apiece. Ralph also posted three RBIs, finishing tied with
Spencer Pederson for the team lead.
Geary recorded three stolen bases in the contest, bringing his season total to a Lindenwood NCAA era record 24 swiped bags.
Meanwhile,
Ethan Smith was credited with the win after surrendering just one run on four hits with three strikeouts through 3.2 innings of work.
Luke Wright had a solid outing in relief, giving up one run on two hits with three strikeouts through 2.1 innings.
Tanner Paschke tossed one innings of shutout ball to finish the game.
How it Happened
With two outs in the bottom of the first,
Will Geary doubled to the gap in right center before coming around to score on a
William Zareh RBI base hit to give the Lions an early 1-0 lead.
Lindenwood would follow that up with three runs on four hits in the second inning. A
Filip Sarota double and
Kam Edwards base hit to lead off the frame put runners on the corners before
Owen Ralph drove in the game's second run with an RBI single.
Sam Driscoll then continued his hot month at the plate with an RBI double off the right field wall to make the score 3-0 and set up
Jake Radosevich with a prime RBI opportunity, which he delivered on with a sacrifice fly down the right field line to extend the lead.
A leadoff single followed by a one-out triple off the left field wall got one back for SIU, but
Ethan Smith was able to strand the runner at third to keep the lead at three for Lindenwood.
The Lions responded with a two-out rally in the home half with
Filip Sarota singling and
Kam Edwards reaching on a walk before
Spencer Pederson powered a double down the left field line to make the score 6-1.
Three consecutive two-out walks loaded the bases for LU in the bottom of the fourth, but the Lions were unable to capitalize and bring any runs across in the frame. The Salukis were then able to shave one run off the lead with a Jacob McKenzie leadoff homer in the top of the fifth.
However, Lindenwood broke the game wide open with five runs in the bottom of the sixth, beginning with a leadoff home run to dead center by
Jake Radosevich. Following the homer,
Will Geary singled and stole second with one out before
Tanner Simpson was walked to put two aboard.
After executing a double steal to put runners on second and third, Geary beat the throw home on a ground ball to third base to add another run.
Kam Edwards was subsequently walked to load the bases before a groundout allowed Simpson to score from third.
With two outs and runners on second and third,
Owen Ralph came through with a single to shallow right center to plate two more runs, extending the lead to 11-2.
SIU loaded the bases with one away in the top of the seventh, by
Tanner Paschke was able to work out of the jam without allowing a run, and after
Jake Radosevich drew a walk and
Will Geary was hit by a pitch in the bottom of the frame,
Tanner Simpson delivered the game-winning swing with an RBI double to deep left field that put the 10-run rule into effect.
Next Up
The Lions travel to Edwardsville this weekend for a big OVC series against SIUE. Game one against the Cougars is set for 6:00 p.m. on Friday, May 1st.
