Senior shortstop Alex Canty had five hits and five RBIs in the Lions’ two wins over UIndy on Tuesday. (Photo courtesy Lindenwood Athletics)

by Cedric Williams
Senior Editor

The Lindenwood University baseball team, which was ranked No. 2 in the country in the most recent National College Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) national poll, continued its winning ways on Tuesday, when it swept a home doubleheader over GLVC rival Indianapolis at the Lou Brock Sports Complex in St. Charles.

The Lions, who now have an overall record of 16-2, have won four in a row since suffering its first two losses of the season last Friday and have been on a scoring tear. Tuesday’s wins, by the score of 13-4 and 12-4, give Lindenwood four straight games in which it has scored at least 12 runs.

In the two games on Tuesday, the Lions batted in 12 innings and scored at least one run in nine of them. In Game 1, Lindenwood scored in every inning but the first and jumped out to a 7-0 lead before UIndy even knew what hit them. The visiting Greyhounds did manage to get the score back to 9-4 heading into the bottom of the sixth, but the Lions put the game away with four insurance runs to make sure UIndy would pull off no magic comeback.

In Game 2, it was the Greyhounds who jumped out to an early lead, scoring three times in the first and once again in the second, to jump ahead 4-0. But Lindenwood rallied with a run in the third, a run in the fourth, and three more in the fifth to take the lead at 5-4. Then after UIndy went three-up, three-down in the top of the sixth, the Lions blasted the visitors with seven runs on eight hits in the bottom of the inning to go ahead 12-4.

Lindenwood got the final three outs in fairly easy fashion and the day was over with the Lions adding two more wins to its already impressive 2021 campaign, and with LU clamping a firm hold on the first place slot in the GLVC Blue Division standings with a league mark of 12-2. UIndy is in second place in the Blue Division with an 11-7 league record.

For most of the season Lindenwood has relied on its pitching staff to lead the way. And that plan makes sense, considering the Lions don’t have anyone with a losing record, have six pitchers that have at least two wins, and also six pitchers with an ERA of less than 3.40. But since the two losses last Friday, it has been the offense that’s taken charge.

On Tuesday, the hitting stars were seniors Alex Canty and Mitchell Krebs. Canty, LU’s starting shortstop, had a total of five hits and five RBIs, including four in the Game 2 win. Canty’s big day made him the team leader in RBIs with 21 on the season.

Krebs, LU’s starting third baseman for the second straight season, had four hits and four RBIs in the two wins, including a key two-run double that got the Lions going in Game 1. The 5-foot-10, 170-pounder from Edwardsville is second on the team with 17 RBIs.

Pitchers Niko Marshall and Justin Taylor got the wins for Lindenwood. Marshall started Game 1 and improved his season record to 2-0, while Taylor came out of the bullpen in Game 2 to get his second win of the year.

Lindenwood will return to action this weekend, when it goes on the road to play a four-game set against McKendree University in Lebanon, Ill. McKendree has an overall record of 11-13, but is in last place in the GLVC Blue Division with a 4-12 conference record.

Lindenwood’s next home game will be next weekend, beginning April 23, when the Lions will host the first of four games against Southern Indiana.