ST. CHARLES, Mo. - McKendree University baseball (20-27, 15-13 GLVC) won its final regular season series, 3-1, but split its double-header finale against the Lions of Lindenwood University (27-22, 16-12 GLVC) on Sunday afternoon. McKendree nabbed the first game of the double-header, 4-1, which placed them into a tie for the final conference tournament position, but failed to clinch a berth into the tournament with a loss in game two, 7-3. The Bearcats, after going 3-1 on the weekend, tied with William Jewell for the fourth and final tournament spot but lost out due to tiebreakers. 

McKendree marked its best conference record since joining the Great Lakes Valley Conference (2013) at 15-13, finishing tied for fourth in its division. On top of the best conference slate, the Bearcats collected the third most wins in its NCAA Division II program history and set a single season team record for home runs with 95 in just 47 games. 

GAME 1
McKendree looked to continue its winning ways in the second day of its weekend series and eventually did just that with a 4-1 victory in the seven-inning Sunday opener. 

The Bearcats went down early with the Lions scoring on a wild pitch in the bottom of the first. Lindenwood led 1-0 through four innings of play. 

In the fifth, senior infielder JP Kehoe reach base via a five-pitch walk and advanced to second on a passed ball during the next at-bat. Graduate outfielder Ryan Hutchinson then sent a bomb down the right field line, driving in the tying run in Kehoe and scoring the leading run himself. The home run by Hutchinson also marked McKendree baseball's 94th of the year, a new single-season record for the Bearcats. McKendree led 2-1 after the homer by the graduate outfielder.

The Bearcats added on a pair of insurance runs in the top of the seventh before the Lions' final slate of plate attempts and went up 4-1. Senior infielder Alex Steinbach sent the two-run home run shot down the right field line to score freshman infielder Gavin Arseneau.

McKendree held off the opposing battery in the bottom half of the seventh to capture a third-straight win. Steinbach's homer marked the 95th on the season for the Bearcats. 
Graduate pitcher Evan Spears (1-4) got his first victory of the season in the outing, going 6.0 with two strikeouts, no earned runs, and just three hits. 

GAME 2
McKendree, after fighting to put themselves into a GLVC tournament-bound position in the first three games, went down early to the hosting-Lions, 3-0. The Lions put together a flurry of hits to drive in a pair of runs with the third coming during a steal attempt. 

McKendree managed to cut the Lindenwood lead down to just a single run in the second inning with a score off Kehoe's hit-by-pitch at-bat and then a single by Arseneau. Kehoe's reach allowed senior outfielder Corey Price to make the jog home while Arseneau singled through the left side of the infield to bring in senior infielder Joseph Costanzo. 

The outing held at 3-2 for the Lions until the fifth when the hosts tacked on two runs after another string of hits. The Lions then put up two more insurance scores in the seventh to take a 7-2 lead late in the game. 

McKendree found one more run to put on the board in the eighth after Price got on via walk and advanced to second and third with singles by sophomore outfielder Joseph Copeland and Costanzo. Price was pushed home by a sacrifice fly from junior outfielder Katom Parnell, which made the game 7-3 in favor of Lindenwood.

The Bearcats were unable to collect any further runs in the outing while Lindenwood closed out the regular season with a tournament berth clinching-victory. 

GLVC TOURNAMENT
McKendree (20-27, 15-13) earned its best record in the GLVC since joining in 2013 and finished tied-for-fourth with William Jewell (30-19, 15-13) in the GLVC Green Division. 

After tiebreakers were said and done, the Bearcats were cut out of the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament by razer thin margins. It would have been the first ever berth to the GLVC Tournament for McKendree since joining the league. McKendree needed a sweep of Lindenwood to guarantee a spot in postseason play but positioning themselves extremely well with a 3-1 weekend. The tiebreakers came down to head-to-head records against other conference opponents. 


2022 Season Notes
- Third-most wins (20) since joining NCAA Division II and the most since 2014 (21)
- First winning/above-.500 GLVC season since joining NCAA DII in 2013 (15-13, .536)
- Program record for single-season home runs (95 / 47 games), previous was 93 in 2000/2009
- Best overall winning percentage (.426, 20-27) since 2013 (.500, 23-23)

UP NEXT
McKendree baseball will head into off-season after a highly successful 2022 regular season where they narrowly missed postseason play. The Bearcats will return to the field in the fall for off-season workouts and fall contests before readying for the 2023 spring.

GLVC All-Conference awards will be announced in the coming weeks. 

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