EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – The Lindenwood baseball team (25-21, 10-10 OVC) dropped their second consecutive game on Saturday with a 2-1 loss at SIUE (26-21, 14-6 OVC), losing back-to-back games for the first time since late March.
The Lions out-hit the Cougars in the contest but left seven runners on base, including five in scoring position.
Will Geary led the Lindenwood offense with two hits – including a double – in three at bats while also drawing a walk.
Seth Benes recorded another strong start for the Lions, allowing two runs on just four hits with seven strikeouts through 6.2 innings of work.
Aaron Jungers tossed the final 1.1 innings for Lindenwood, giving up zero runs on one hit with three strikeouts.
How it Happened
Following a pair of scoreless innings to begin the game,
Spencer Pederson tripled to deep left field with one out in the top of the third before scoring on an
Owen Ralph RBI groundout to put the Lions up 1-0. The lead was short lived, however, as SIUE's Brendan Fry led off the bottom of the frame with a double before Cooper Eggert went deep to right field for a two-run homer.
Lindenwood put runners on the corners with no outs following a
Will Geary double and
Jake Radosevich single to lead off the fourth but were unable score any runs in the inning as the score remained 2-1.
Still trailing by a run in the top of the seventh, Lindenwood again put runners on the corners following a
Tanner Simpson leadoff walk and
Matt Graff base hit with one out, but still came way empty handed after Simpson was thrown out trying to tag and score on a
Kam Edwards fly out to left field.
In the top of the eighth,
Ethan Cantareira was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning before a
Will Geary single followed by a
Jake Radosevich two-out walk loaded the bases. However, the bats continued to struggle with runners in scoring position as a groundout ended the scoring threat with no runs across.
After
Aaron Jungers worked through a scoreless bottom of the eighth,
William Zareh reached base with a leadoff walk and made it to third following a sacrifice bunt and groundout, but was unable to score the tying run as the Lions left a runner in scoring position for the third consecutive inning.
Next Up
Game three at SIUE is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. on Sunday as the Lions will look to salvage the series.
