The undefeated Lindenwood Lions are now the #1 team in NCAA Division II baseball. (Photo courtesy Lindenwood Athletics)
by Cedric Williams
Senior Editor
The Lindenwood baseball team found out on Wednesday that it had moved up two slots and is now the No. 1 ranked team in the country, according to the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association’s most recent national poll. The Lions were ranked No. 3 last week after beginning the season not being ranked at all.
Lindenwood, which is undefeated at 12-0, moved past the University of Tampa and Angelo State University to claim the top spot. Tampa was ranked No. 2, but hasn’t played a game in almost two weeks, and fell to No. 4 this week.
Angelo State, which had been No. 1 and received all of the first place votes as recently as two weeks ago, fell 10 spots to 11th this week, following its most recent series over the weekend against Texas A&M-Kingsville.
Tampa did get the most first place votes (8) in this week’s poll, but still fell to third in the rankings behind Lindenwood and Colorado Mesa. The Lions got four first place votes and Mesa got two, but it was Lindenwood that still managed to receive the most overall points at 441.
Colorado Mesa, the No. 2 team in the country now, had 433 points, with Tampa finishing third with 431 points in one of the closest ranking tallies of recent memory.
Other local teams ranked in this week’s poll include Central Missouri, which was ranked fifth, Missouri Southern, which was 10th, and GLVC rival Illinois-Springfield, which came in 14th.
The Lindenwood has been led by its pitching staff, which has the fourth-best team ERA in the country at 2.34 through 104.0 innings pitched and the nation’s third-best strikeout-to-walk ratio at 4.14 through 12 games.
Individually, senior righthander Kyle Hentis leads the club with a 2-0 record and a 0.90 ERA in three starts. Teammates Blake Beckmann, Tyler Cassmeyer, and Jacob Thompson also have 2-0 records on the season, and all have ERAs under 3.00.
Sophomore righthander Brady Roach has been very good coming out of the bullpen. He’s appeared four times and earned a save each time, while giving up just one run all season.
At the plate, senior first baseman Mitchell Krebs leads the team with a .421 batting average and 16 total hits, while senior third baseman Alex Canty has a .349 batting average, with 15 hits, and a team-leading 11 RBIs.
The Lions were supposed to have a big four-game series with crosstown rival Washington University this weekend, but that series was cancelled due to covid concerns. Lindenwood will be back on the field next weekend, when it plays a four-game road set against GLVC foe Lewis University.
Lindenwood’s next home games will be Wednesday, April 13, when the Lions will host a doubleheader at the Lou Brock Sports Complex against another GLVC opponent, the University of Indianapolis.