ST CHARLES, Mo. – The Lindenwood baseball team (30-28, 13-14 OVC) came up short against Little Rock (32-26, 16-11 OVC) on Thursday night, falling 4-3 in an elimination game against the Trojans.
Easton Rakers was lights on the mound for the Lions, giving up just one run on two hits with five strikeouts through two innings of relief work.
Offensively, Lindenwood tallied six hits, led by
Matt Graf and
Charlie Isom-McCall with two knocks apiece.
How it Happened
After Lindenwood moved a runner into scoring position in each of their first two at-bats without generating a run, Little Rock put two on with nobody out in the bottom of the second, but the runners were kept in place by a pop out before
Will Geary turned two on a line out to short to end the inning.
The Trojans moved a runner into scoring position again in the bottom of the third, but another double play by the Lions – this time on a fly out to left field – kept the game scoreless.
However, a pair of base hits followed by a Angel Cano double down the right field line to lead off the bottom of the fourth gave Little Rock a 2-0 lead, and after a fourth consecutive hit put runners on the corners, Cano came home to score on a fielder's choice to make the tally 3-0.
The Trojans added another run in the bottom of the fifth, with Cooper Chaplain getting hit by a pitch to lead off the frame before moving up 90 feet on a ground out to second base and scoring on a Nolan Freund RBI single.
The Lions refused to go away quietly, though, and after
Will Geary and
Jake Radosevich reached base to lead off the top of the seventh,
Sam Driscoll crushed one over the wall in right field for a three-run homer to bring Lindenwood to within a run.
However, Lindenwood was unable to find the tying run through their final two at-bats, with a
Charlie Isom-McCall two-out single in the eighth representing the Lions' only baserunner.
With the loss, the 2026 season comes to a close as the Lions finish with an overall record of 30-28, marking the program's second consecutive season with at least 30 wins.
