Friday:  Lincoln baseball drops extra-inning affair to Southeast

[April 14, 2018] 

The Lincoln Railsplitters baseball team showed a lot of resilience on Friday night as the young team lost in extra-innings to Southeast by a score of 10-9 at Mike Curry Field.

Lincoln had a 4-1 lead after two innings of play but the Spartans put six runs on the scoreboard in the fourth inning to take a 7-4 lead. Southeast added an insurance run in the top of the sixth inning but Lincoln battled back to score two runs in the bottom of the inning. In that bottom of the sixth inning, pinch-runner Titus Cannon scored on Jack Eimer's double and after Eimer stole third base, he scored easily on Noah Funk's RBI single.

Lincoln held the Spartans scoreless in the top half of the seventh inning and the score remained 8-6 in favor of Southeast.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, Nate Arnold led off with a hard-hit ball to deep short and while the Southeast player made a nice grab as he entered the left field grass to retrieve the ball, the umpire's quick call of out at first base was questionable. Lincoln Head Coach Mike Smania was quick to question the call and after the first base umpire consulted with the home plate umpire, the call still remained.

Colton Holliday is ready to swing and deliver. The junior's hitting was clutch as he crushed a double to deep center during the seventh inning rally.

With one out, Drew Singleton and Brenden Eigenbrod drew back-to-back walks. Aleck Bailey then came in to pinch run for Eigenbrod. The next batter, Colton Holliday, smashed one to deep centerfield that just missed being a home run. Holliday rested on second base with a double as Singleton scored from second and Bailey was thrown out attempting to score from first.

Aleck Bailey attempts to leap and avoid the tag but that didn't quite work out as planned. Bailey was out trying to score on Holliday's double.

With two outs now and Holliday on second base, Dreyden Pozsgai stepped to the plate. Pozsgai was swinging and he reached on an error by the shortstop as Holliday sped into third. With runners on first and third and two outs, it was up to Will Ewald. Ewald delivered. The sophomore lined a single to the outfield that allowed Holliday to trot home with the tying run. With the score tied 8-8, batter Jack Eimer was retired when he flew out to centerfield to end the inning. A great comeback by Lincoln to send the game into extra-innings.

Austin Sparrow came in to start the eighth inning for Lincoln. Sparrow hit the first batter he faced and walked the next batter. After a wild pitch by Sparrow advanced the runners, Dylan Chaudoin came in to pitch. Chaudoin inherited runners on second and third with nobody out. A sacrifice fly and an RBI single by Southeast would give the Spartans a 10-8 lead.

Chaudoin was finally able to escape out of the inning with Lincoln trailing 10-8 going into the bottom of the eighth inning. By now it was getting to be past dusk and the ball had to be hard to see for the players.

Noah Funk apparently didn't have a problem seeing the ball and he slugged his third hit of the day. His lead-off single to right field gave Lincoln a good start to the inning. Alex Bogdanic stepped up to the plate next and he delivered with a single. Nate Arnold then followed up with a sacrifice fly, advancing Funk to third base. Funk scored on the next play, which was hard to determine exactly what happened just because it was so difficult to locate the ball in the darkness. Nonetheless Lincoln trailed 10-9 at this point and there was still just one out. Singleton was in the batter's box and he hammered one to the outfield and the outfielder made a spectacular running catch to rob Lincoln of a base hit. Down to their final out, Eigenbrod stepped in the batter's box for Lincoln and his groundout would end the game for the Railersplitters.

Despite falling in extra-innings to an old CS8 rival, Lincoln showed a determined, never-give-up attitude that pleased the fans. Not to mention, had the MLB replay been in effect for that questionable call in the bottom of the seventh inning at first base, Lincoln would have ended the game early with a win. A tough break for this young team.

Sophomore Dreyden Pozsgai started the game for Lincoln and he gave up a run while tossing three innings and striking out three batters.

Noah Funk delivers on the mound versus Southeast. Funk pounded out three hits in the Railsplitters 10-9 loss.

Fellow sophomore Noah Funk was the first pitcher to take the mound in relief for Lincoln. Funk pitched four innings and gave up seven runs while striking out five batters. Sparrow took the loss for Lincoln.

Lincoln out hit Southeast 8-7. Noah Funk led all batters with three hits on the afternoon.

Lincoln Coach Mike Smania talks talks to Drew Singleton and Aleck Bailey during a pitching change for Southeast.

Coach Smania has had to rely heavily on his sophomore pitchers and the experience they are getting early on will pay off in the long run.

"Coming into today we were just trying to balance the pitching," Coach Smania said. "We have two conference games coming up with Mattoon so I have to save guys. It's a conference doubleheader so it means a little more. It's a good test early on. We are going to build off it. We set a real good foundation in the Charleston games and once the bats get going I think we'll be pretty good. The goal is getting to regionals and playing our best there."

Lincoln travels to Mattoon today for an Apollo Conference doubleheader. Today's games have been moved to 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. due to the scheduling of the ACT for juniors. Of course, that is, weather permitting.

[Teena Lowery]