LCU Baseball Swept by Ecclesia

[March 31, 2014]  Ecclesia College dominated the Lincoln Christian University baseball team in the home opener in Lincoln on Saturday. The games, scheduled for noon and 2 p.m., had to be pushed back two hours to let the crew deal with the soggy infield, but the teams were able to get the doubleheader in before the light vanished.

The Ecclesia Royals won handily with scores of 11-1 and 16-0. Both games ended after five innings of play.

In the first game against Ecclesia, LCU (1-6) started senior Brady Cremeens (Hopedale/Olympia HS), who gave up all 11 runs in the first four innings. Senior Scott Reynolds came in to finish the last out of the fourth and kept the fifth inning to just three batters. LCU scored its lone run off a double in the third inning by Landon Liga (St. James, N.Y./Suffolk County Community College), allowing junior Brennan Nassif (Ankeny, Iowa/Ankeny HS) safe passage home all the way from first base after reaching it on a walk.

In the second game, Ecclesia jumped to an early 7-0 lead after the second inning. LCU junior Matt Krause (Mount Zion/Mount Zion HS) was the starting pitcher, and freshman Jared Haskell (Decatur/Warrensburg-Latham HS) relieved Krause but threw only the third inning. Both had trouble finding the strike zone, giving up six walks and throwing over 50 pitches outside the zone. Senior Scott Reynolds came in again to finish the second game from the mound. He allowed the Royals to score three more times in the fourth inning before the scoreless fifth brought the game to a close. From the plate, the Red Lions got only two men on base, but neither recorded hits, leaving the LCU men with no runs, no hits and suffering from seven strikeouts.

LCU was scheduled to return to the diamond Monday afternoon for a doubleheader against area NCAA Division III foe MacMurray College.

[Text from file received from Todd Spellman, Lincoln Christian University]

LCU baseball

Lincoln Christian University's School of Undergraduate Studies is a member of the National Christian College Athletic Association, Division II. Founded in Lincoln in 1944, Lincoln Christian's three schools — the School of Undergraduate Studies, the Hargrove School of Adult & Graduate Studies, and the Seminary — share a mission to nurture and equip Christians with a biblical worldview to serve and lead in the church and the world. For more information about the Red Lions, visit LincolnChristian.edu/athletics.