KYLE RHINE | Reporter
The Lindenwood baseball team powered past McKendree 14-4 on Wednesday afternoon in St. Charles.
Neil Fischer got the offense rolling with a two-run blast to left field in the bottom of the first inning giving the Lions an early 2-0 lead. Fischer had three hits on the afternoon.
After a run by McKendree in the second inning, the Lions’ offense went on a tear in the bottom half. Nick Paulda hit a three-run shot down the left field line extending the lead to 5-1. Lindenwood added four more runs in the inning on RBI doubles from Drew Quinones and Fischer, as the Lions led 9-1 headed into the third inning.
Austin Georgen made the start for the Lions, lasting two innings and allowing three hits and one run. Georgen recorded three strikeouts in the win.
McKendree made an attempt to come back in the late innings as the Bearcats scored three runs in the sixth inning off relief pitcher Lucas Tibbs to cut the Lions’ lead to 11-4.
However, Lindenwood’s offense continued to stay hot as the Lions added two more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning on a bases-loaded walk to Ryan Sosnowski and a sacrifice fly from Mitchell Hantack. After a scoreless seventh inning from Marshall Shill, the Lions tacked on one more run on a RBI single from Connor Behrens, and that closed the door on McKendree.
Following the win, the Lions are 17-18 on the season and will look to get back to .500 tonight when it faces conference opponent Missouri Western State at 6 p.m. in St. Joseph.
