ST. CHARLES, Mo. – The Lindenwood baseball team (14-17, 2-7 OVC) defeated Southeast Missouri (22-10, 6-3 OVC) 7-1 on Saturday afternoon to secure their first series win of conference play. It also stands as the Lions' first series victory over their in-state rivals since becoming conference opponents in 2023.  

The Lindenwood bats came to life with 13 total hits in the contest, led by Charlie Isom-McCall with three knocks. Filip Sarota and Tyler Ellis also recorded multiple hits with 2-4 outings, with Sarota also driving in two runs to match Jake Radosevich for the team lead in RBIs.

Meanwhile, Lucas Niemeyer picked up his first career win after tossing five shutout innings with four strikeouts to start the game before Aaron Jungers stepped in and allowed no runs on four hits with four strikeouts through 3.2 innings of relief.

How it Happened
Lindenwood jumped out to an early lead with a three-run first inning. Charlie Isom-McCall led off the frame with a base hit before a Will Geary double and Jake Radosevich walk loaded the bases for Filip Sarota, who delivered a two-RBI single to left field. Tyler Ellis would drive in the third run with a double off the left field wall but would get doubled up on a line out before a strikeout ended the inning with a runner left on third.

SEMO threatened in the top of the third with two on a no outs, but back-to-back strikeouts by Lucas Niemeyer followed by a 5-3 ground out stranded both runners on base. The Lions would then tack on one more in the home half, with William Zareh bringing home a run with a base hit through the left side following consecutive two-out singles from Filip Sarota and Tyler Ellis.

Lindenwood tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the fourth, first with a Charlie Isom-McCall doubling with runners on the corners to plate Owen Ralph, who had singled, stolen second, and moved up to third on a perfectly placed bunt single by Brett Yarger. Jake Radosevich would bring in the second run of the frame with a sacrifice fly to right field that allowed Yarger to score.

Following three more scoreless frames from the LU defense, the Lions would add another run in the top of the seventh with a Jake Radosevich lead off homer to left field.

The Redhawks would score one unearned run in the ninth, with Dakota Joggerst scoring on a ground out after singling and moving to third on a throwing error on an Anthony Ramirez bunt single. However, no other runs would score as Easton Rakers came out of the bullpen and sat down the final SEMO batter on strikes for the last out.  

Next Up
Lindenwood travels to Evansville for a midweek contest against the Purple Aces on Wednesday, April 8th at 6:00 p.m. before returning to the Lou Brock Sports Complex for a three-game set against Western Illinois next weekend. Game one against the Leathernecks is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. on Friday, April 10th.