EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – The Lindenwood baseball team (25-22, 10-11 OVC) dropped their series finale at SIUE (27-21, 15-6 OVC) by a score of 11-8 on Sunday afternoon. It was a rare off day for the LU pitching staff, who had allowed just seven runs combined through the first two installments of this weekend's series.
The Lions recorded a total of nine hits in the contest with six of them going for extra bases.
Filip Sarota had a big day at the plate for Lindenwood, going 2-4 with a home run, a double, and a career-high five runs batted in.
Will Geary also recorded multiple hits with a 2-5 performance.
How it Happened
Lindenwood jumped out to an early lead with a
Filip Sarota three-run homer with two outs in the first inning. It was Sarota's first home run of the season and put the Lions in front for the first time in the series.
SIUE got one run back in the bottom of the first with a Joshua Heyder RBI single before a four-run home half of the second featuring a three-run homer off the bat of Ryan Niedzwiedz gave the Cougars a 5-3 lead.
The Lions shaved one run off the deficit in the top of the third with
Jake Radosevich scoring on a
Filip Sarota sacrifice fly after drawing a walk and moving to third on a
Tanner Simpson double.
With runners on first and second and nobody out for SIUE in the bottom of the third,
Ethan Smith entered game for Lindenwood and retired the next three batters without allowing a run to keep the deficit at just one. However, a Chase Bloomer double followed by a Ryan Niedzwiedz RBI base hit in the bottom of the fourth pushed the Cougar lead back to a pair.
SIUE extended their lead to three runs in the bottom of the sixth with a Cooper Eggert leadoff homer, but the Lions would surge ahead with a four-run top of the seventh.
Kam Edwards got the inning started with a leadoff walk before moving to second on a
Will Geary one-out base hit and scoring on a
Jake Radosevich ground-rule double. With runners on second and third, Geary scored on a
Tanner Simpson sacrifice fly before
Filip Sarota stayed hot with an RBI double to tie the game before
William Zareh put the Lions in front with an RBI single to center field.
However, the Cougars responded with three runs in the bottom of the frame, beginning with a leadoff homer from Joshua Heyder before a pair of two-out RBI singles by Sean Kang and Cooper Eggert made the score 10-8 in favor of SIUE.
After Lindenwood failed to reach base in the top of the eighth, the Cougars added an insurance run with Ethan Willougby RBI ground-rule double.
Will Geary tried to spark a rally in the top of the ninth with a leadoff single, but the next three Lions were sat down in order to end the game.
Next Up
Lindenwood hosts four games at the Lou Brock Sports Complex this weekend to conclude their 2026 home schedule. The Lions will face SLU on Tuesday at 5:00 p.m. before hosting Tennessee Tech for a three-game OVC series next weekend. Game one against the Golden Eagles is scheduled for Friday, May 8
th at 3:00 p.m.
