After dropping their second game of the season back on Feb. 2 at Florida Tech, Lindenwood baseball has gone a perfect 7-0 with consecutive sweeps since their opening road trip to start the year. The momentum is rolling with the Lions on the diamond, as it is across multiple other sports across the campus as well. 

Find out which teams are hot, and which records have recently been broken, in the latest edition of the “Lions Weekly Roundup.”

Baseball

It was another near spotless weekend for the Lions, sweeping Northwood University at home. The offense got hot early and often, starting on Friday with a 13-run outburst led by Calvin Nowak’s four hit, three RBI afternoon.

Pitching stole the show on Saturday, as Jacob Thompson was lethal on the mound, delivering eight innings with just two runs allowed to improve to 2-0 on the year. Sunday’s contest was a mix of both offense and strong pitching, scoring nine runs in the third inning for the 12-2 win.

Lindenwood continues to roll, now at 8-1 overall heading into next weekend’s home series with Truman State.

Scores: Friday – Lindenwood 13-5 Northwood; Saturday – Lindenwood 4-2 Northwood; Sunday – Lindenwood 12-2 Northwood

Men’s Basketball

In one of the better games of the season for Lindenwood men’s basketball, the Lions upset a likely playoff team in the Rockhurst Hawks on Thursday night. T.J. Crockett and Vijay Blackmon dunked all over the Hawks all game, filling the highlight reel and leading the Lions to their 10th win of the season.

Saturday’s meeting with the William Jewell Cardinals was another tight one, with the Lions being on the wrong side of the result this time around. Lindenwood was burnt by the William Jewell offense throughout both halves, allowing 49% shooting from the field and 42% from long-range. Crockett hit a late-three, but it was too late as the Lions fell by one.

Just two games remain on the men’s basketball schedule, taking on Illinois-Springfield on Thursday and Lewis on Saturday with both games at home.

Scores: Thursday – Lindenwood 86-77 Rockhurst; Saturday – William Jewell 88-87 Lindenwood

Women’s Basketball 

Records are meant to be broken. Lindenwood women’s basketball records are meant to be broken almost weekly, thanks to two of their three seniors: Lindsay Medlen and Kallie Bildner. The most recent one was courtesy of Bildner, as she broke Lindenwood’s all-time scoring record for a career on Saturday with now over 1808 points as a Lion.

Before she did this, Bildner and the rest of the Lions were dominant on Thursday night, blowing out the visiting Rockhurst Hawks behind the senior forward’s 24 points. Saturday’s Breast Cancer Awareness Game wasn’t much different, as Lindenwood won by 23 over William Jewell.

As the fifth place team in the GLVC, the Lions have locked themselves in to a playoff spot ahead of the postseason tournament starting on March 5. They’ll have a chance to improve their position next week, when Lindenwood hosts Illinois-Springfield and Lewis.

Scores: Thursday – Lindenwood 85-56 Rockhurst; Saturday – Lindenwood 85-62 William Jewell

Women’s Gymnastics

It was a strong day for Lindenwood on Sunday, as they defeated Wisconsin-Stout with an overall score of 195.075. The Lions had five of the top six finishers on the vault, being led by Aleah Leman who had a 9.850 in the competition. Lindenwood placed first in every event except the all-around.

Lindenwood will head to Columbia, Missouri next Sunday to take on Missouri, Minnesota, and Ohio State.

Score: Lindenwood 195.075 

Men’s Ice Hockey

Iowa State came to town for the weekend set, which Lindenwood took control of starting with a 4-1 win on Saturday. Cooper Seedott made 22 saves in the win and Hayden Ursulak led the way in terms of scoring with two goals on the day.

On Sunday, Lindenwood came back to tie the game at 2-2, sending the game to overtime. It would later be decided in shootouts, with Tommy Heinzmann and Nick Greene scoring the lone goals to give the Lions the 3-2 win. Freshman goaltender Stephen Friedland made 28 saves in the win.

One series remains for men’s hockey before the postseason, as Lindenwood heads to Missouri State to finish out the regular season next week.

Scores: Saturday – Lindenwood 4-1 Iowa State; Sunday – Lindenwood 3-2 Iowa State (shootouts)

Women’s Ice Hockey

In their final two home games of the season, women’s ice hockey hosted Penn State at the Centene Community Ice Center. Friday’s affair saw Lindenwood tie their fourth game of the season 1-1 with Penn State. Cierra Paisley was the lone scorer on the night for the Lions, while Annika Asplundh made 31 saves in goal. 

On Senior Day, Lindenwood was again held to just one goal on the evening while they conceded five on the other end. Maddison Stitt found the back-of-the-net in the second period, but the hosts were shutout in both the first and the third. The final score of their final home game was 5-1 in favor of Penn State.

Next week, the Lions will close out the season on the road at RIT in Rochester, New York.

Men’s Lacrosse 

On the road at Lincoln Memorial University, it was another big day for men’s lacrosse as they blew-out the hosts 18-9. Lindenwood scored five goals in three of the four quarters, with the one exception being a three-goal third quarter.

Two Lions recorded hat-tricks on the day, as both Carter Collins and Jake Campbell scored three times each. Four different players scored two goals, including Cam Smith who also had four assists.  

Conference play opens next Wednesday on the road at Lewis University.

Score: Lindenwood 18-9 Lincoln Memorial

Women’s Lacrosse

In a battle between two top 10 teams in the nation, it was #9 Lindenwood who came out on top over #8 Florida Southern on Sunday night. The two strong squads played an even first half, with both scoring five goals each to keep the score tied heading into the final 30 minutes of the game.

The Lions took over in the second half, however, outscoring Florida Southern 8-4 in the second. Hannah Doughty came away with yet another hat-trick, and was joined by Carly Fedorowski and Erin McGuire with three goals each.

It doesn’t get any easier for women’s lacrosse, as they’ll take on #6 Tampa on Tuesday in Tampa, Florida.

Score: #9 Lindenwood 13-9 #8 Florida Southern

Softball

Playing in the Lewis Dome Invitational, hosted by Lewis University, softball got off to a bit of a slow start with a loss in the first of four games, but turned it around and won the next three. In the first of two games on Friday, Lindenwood had a 4-1 lead after five innings, but gave up six runs in the sixth inning which ultimately decided the game. 

Lindenwood bounced back with a 7-5 win over Wayne State later on in the evening. The next day started off with a shutout victory over Ashland, with Stormee Galka tossing seven shutout innings. The big win came in the second game on Saturday, as the Lions took down #3 Grand Valley State in 10 innings after a Riley Luetkenhaus single drove in Ceairra Perez in the 10th. 

Now 6-2 overall, Lindenwood will next return home for a series against Parkside next weekend.

Scores: Friday – Saginaw Valley 7-6 Lindenwood; Lindenwood 7-5 Wayne State; Saturday – Lindenwood 2-0 Ashland; Lindenwood 2-1 #3 Grand Valley St. (10 innings)

Track and Field 

It was a busy week for the track and field teams, starting off on Friday and Saturday at the Nebraska Tune-Up. Samuel Yaro was third in the men’s 800-meter with a time of 1:55.77. The men’s team also had Damaine Dixon place in the top 10 in the 400-meter, finishing seventh with a 50.05. On the women’s side, Regina Huesca-Barrales’ 59.70 was good enough for 12th in her 400-meter run.

Also on Saturday, the Lions were at the Missouri Collegiate Challenge in Columbia, where they had an overall strong outing. Lindenwood had three different first place finishers, including Lexi Hafford in the high jump, Nicole Barton in the pole vault, and then Nadia Pulliam in the 600-meter.

The GLVC Championship is next on the schedule, taking place in Indianapolis, Indiana next weekend.

Men’s Volleyball 

On the road for the first time this season, Lindenwood fell in back-to-back games on Thursday and Saturday. First up was McKendree, who the Lions led after the first set but lost the next three, falling 3-1 overall. Jeremy Kirch led the team with 12 kills on the evening, followed by Sam Schindler’s 11.

#5 Lewis proved their ranking two days later, sweeping Lindenwood in three sets after taking the first one 25-19. The third set was the closest scoreline of the day, with Lewis still on top 25-21.

Lindenwood comes back home next weekend, playing host to Ball State and Ohio State.

Scores: Thursday – McKendree 3-1 Lindenwood; #5 Lewis 3-0 Lindenwood