Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score

AUSTIN, Texas – St. Edward's fought hard in both of its victories over Lindenwood (Mo.) Saturday afternoon as they won game one by a score of 8-6 and game two via a walk-off homerun by JOSEPH OLSON 7-6.
 
Game 1: Lindenwood (1-4) struck early in the first inning largely because of a towering pop fly to centerfield. The sun struck the eyes of NATE TURNER and the ball dropped in allowing a run to score with two outs. St. Edward's (3-2) narrowed the lead early as Turner singled, stole second, advanced via a balk and was eventually driven in by a GABLE WHITACRE double.
 
Wes Harris continued the scoring for the Hilltoppers in the second inning after he tripled and was brought in by A.J. Hermanson to tie the score at two. Both teams traded runs in the third inning before Lindenwood put three more runs on the board in the fourth, highlighted by a Nathan Prindle homerun.
 
From that point on COLLIN SHERROD would surrender just two singles over the next three innings to keep the Tigers at bay. Sherrod had a tougher road to navigate than usual, but he ultimately came away with his first victory of the year. Sherrod threw all seven innings while surrendering nine hits and four earned runs.
 
Sherrod told us after the game that, "I got off to a rough start but the offense really picked me up. After the fourth inning I told myself to keep the lead at 8-6 and I got on a roll."
 
Not to be outdone, St. Edward's put together a massive inning the bottom of the fourth to finally take the lead. DYLAN WATTS singled with one out just before Hermanson lifted a triple to right center to score him. Turner, who went 3-for-4 in game one, proceeded to double in Hermanson to bring the Hilltoppers to within 5-4.
 
Some defensive miscues led to a bases loaded opportunity for J.D. Arrowood, who came through with a clutch bases-clearing double to cap off the five-run fourth inning. Arrowood finished the game going 2-for-4 with a double and four runs batted in. Lindenwood starter Will Spitzfaden was shortly pulled after the at bat. Spitzfaden finished the day with 3.1 innings pitched, 11 hits surrendered and eight totals runs with seven of them counting as earned runs.
 
Game 2:
St. Edward's had several defensive miscues through the first five innings that allowed Lindenwood to jump out to a 6-0 lead. CAMERON STANTON got the start in the second game and made it through four innings of work, but only two of his five runs allowed were earned.
 
BRYCE DAVIS came out of the bullpen to try and settle the down the Lion offense in the fifth inning. Davis managed to yield just two hits and one run over 2.2 innings to keep the game close for the Hilltoppers.
 
St. Edward's was kept quiet by Lindenwood starter Austin Klein in the beginning. A scary play occurred in the fourth inning in which GABLE WHITACRE hit a line drive off the back of Klein's head. Klein's day was finished, but he walked off the field under his own power.
 
St. Edward's finally hit pay dirt in the bottom of the sixth as CUTTER RUNTE reached by way of an error. Back-to-back singles from Whitacre and Arrowood loaded the bases for Joe Olson who sent the first pitch he saw back up the middle for a two run single. Harris once again had an extra base hit that drove in a run as he doubled to bring Arrowood in. A sacrifice fly from MIKE DAVIS capped the scoring for the Hilltoppers as they cut the lead to 6-4.
 
Arrowood picked up another RBI single in the seventh to pull the score to within one. The stage was set for a St. Edward's rally in the ninth inning that started with a Hermanson double to left. Turner bunted him to third base with a sacrifice and after a strikeout, Whitacre stepped to the plate with the game in the balance. He ultimately ripped a clutch single to left field to tie the game, 6-6.
 
After a quiet 10^th inning and CAM HATCH escaping a jam in the top of the 11^th, Olson sent a Geoff Hartlieb offering over the left field fence to give the Hilltoppers a 7-6 victory in walk-off fashion.
 
Olson was extremely humble after the game, revealing to us that, "I was visualizing my at bat in my head and didn't want to do to much once I got up there." He went on to say that, "This win isn't all on me, this was a huge team win. It's on our pitching staff, our defense, our team offense. It was a great win but we can't get complacent."
 
Head Coach Rob Penders said "I'll take the wins any way we can get them, however we do need to clean up some thing in all three phases." When asked about the offensive explosion, Penders told us that, "We did a lot of work on it this week. It's one of those things that I kick myself about early each year but these guys put in the work this week and it obviously paid off.
 
St. Edward's will face Lindenwood in another round of games Sunday afternoon. First pitch from Lucian-Hamilton Field is set for noon. Live video and stats will be available on the Hilltopper Athletic Website.