The Lindenwood Lions kept their season alive by winning two games at the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament on Wednesday. (Photo: Thomas Grove)

DeMarcus Dixon
Staff Writer

MARION, IL — The Lindenwood University baseball team survived Elimination Day at the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament by winning two games on Wednesday to advance to the quarterfinals.

Lindenwood entered the tournament as the No. 6 seed, but won games against No. 7 Tennessee-Martin (6-5) and No. 3 Tennessee Tech (9-1) to keep their 2025 season alive.

The Lions will now advance to the double-elimination portion of the tournament, which will begin with a quarterfinal game against No. 2 seed Southern Illinois-Edwardsville on Thursday. The winner of that game will advance to the semifinals on Friday, while the loser will play in another elimination game later Thursday evening.

In Wednesday’s first game, Lindenwood trailed 4-0 and 5-3, before scoring three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to take the lead for good.

Bryson Arnette walked to lead off the inning, then moved to third on a single by Mitch Cummins, who then stole second. With one out, pinch hitter Tanner Simpson singled home Arnette to pull the Lions within one.

Kam Edwards followed with a hit that drove in Cummins to tie the game. Charlie Isom-McCall drew a walk to load the bases, which brought up Jake Radosevich, who lifted a sacrifice fly to right to score Simpson with the go-ahead run.

Junior reliever Easton Rakers had come in to get the final two outs of the top of the seventh and then stayed in to get the final six outs of the game to get the win. It was his first win of the season.

In Wednesday’s nightcap, the Lions jumped on Tennessee Tech right away. They scored four runs in the second, one in the third, and three more in the fourth to take an 8-0 lead. Lindenwood then added a run in the eighth to lead 9-0 before TTU scored at all.

The Lions hit three home runs in the game, including solo shots by Edwards and Brodie Short, and a three run blast by Grunberg, who now has a team-leading 13 dingers on the season.

Starting pitcher Ethan Smith went 7 2/3 innings and allowed just one run on six hits, with six strikeouts to get the win. He is now 4-4 on the season.

First pitch for Thursday’s quarterfinal game against SIUE is slated for 3 p.m.