In NAIA baseball opening round action from Lindenwood University in St. Charles, the host Lions facing elimination pulled off two wins Wednesday, beating Dakota Wesleyan 8-5 and then beating William Penn 7-0. Lindenwood plays #1 seeded Campbellsville, KY today at 1pm.
In the first game over Dakota Wesleyan, the Lions were led offensively by catcher Zane Chavez who was 3-for-5 with two home runs, four RBIs, and three runs scored. The home runs were Chavez’s eighth and ninth of the year. Dan Harris also hit a long ball for the Lions to go along with a single.
The Lions jumped out to an early 4-0 lead with a four-run second inning and never looked back from there. Lions’ starter Randy Serrato went 4 1/3 innings while striking out two and giving up just one run. Reliever Nick Gruver recorded the win after relieving Serrato and only giving up one hit.
In their second game of the day, the Lions got an early 2-0 lead with a Sean Cunningham two-run home run in the bottom of the first. Cunningham had went 3-for-5 with three RBI. LU catcher Zane Chavez followed up a two home run game earlier in the day with a 2-for-3 effort along with a RBI in the night cap.
HAAC pitcher of the year Kyle Boschert pitched a complete game shutout. The junior from St. Charles struck out five and scattered five hits and the win ran his record to 10-1.
With the Lion win they move onto face the number one seeded Campbellsville Tigers in another elimination game Thursday afternoon at 1:00 p.m.
