KYLE RHINE | Reporter

The struggles continued for the Lindenwood baseball team on Wednesday as the Lions fell 9-4 to conference opponent Central Missouri in Warrensburg, Missouri.

Austin Georgen started on the mound, lasting just two and one-third innings, allowing five hits and four runs.

After the Mules scored four runs in the third inning, Wes Degener started the fourth inning with a single up the middle and then came around to score on a double from Neil Fischer to cut the lead to three. The Lions added one more run on a groundout to the pitcher off the bat of Ian Nelson to score Fischer making it 4-2 Central Missouri.

The Mules added to their lead in the fifth inning scoring four runs off Lions’ pitcher Austin Muich. Muich pitched two-thirds of an inning out of the bullpen allowing four runs on five hits.

Lindenwood trailed 9-2 going into the sixth inning when Vince Saladino doubled down the line to score Drew Quinones cutting the Mules’ lead to five.

However, Lindenwood had no answer for Central Missouri’s offense as the Mules made it 9-3 in the bottom of the sixth inning on a home run to right field.

In the seventh inning, Paul Sherwood reached on an error by the catcher and then came around to score on a sacrifice fly to left field off the bat of D.J. Miller for the Lions’ fourth run of the game. Unfortunately, that was all the runs the Lions offense could muster against the Mules on Wednesday.

Following the loss, the Lions are 14-17 on the season and will look to turn things around against conference opponent Southwest Baptist University. Lindenwood will begin a three-game series against the Bearcats starting today at 2 and 5 p.m. at Lou Brock Stadium in St. Charles.