ST. CHARLES, Mo. – University of Southern Indiana junior shortstop Clayton Slack doubled in the game-winning run in the top of the ninth inning to give the Screaming Eagles a 5-4 victory and series win at Lindenwood University Saturday afternoon in St. Charles, Missouri. USI is 27-28 overall and 15-12 in the OVC, while Lindenwood goes to 27-28, 14-12 OVC.
With the win, USI takes hold of fifth in the OVC standings and will be the fifth seed in the OVC Championship. The OVC Championship, presented by SERVPRO, will be May 21-24 at Mtn Dew Park in Marion, Illinois. For more information about the OVC Championship, visit OVCSports.com.
The Eagles will play the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in the first round of the single-elimination day of the conference tournament at 9 a.m. May 21.
USI got on the scoreboard quickly in the first inning when junior first baseman Cole Kitchens hit a two-run blast for a 2-0 lead. The home run was Kitchens’ team-best 12th of the season.
The Screaming Eagles extended the lead to 3-0 in the fourth on an RBI single by junior catcher Micajah Wall with two outs, scoring sophomore third baseman Parker Martin from third.
The Lions rallied to tie the score in the bottom of the sixth with three runs to knot the game at 3-3. Lindenwood would take its only lead of the game in the seventh with a tally to make the score, 4-3.
USI bounced back to knot the game, 4-4, in the eighth when Kitchens singled in senior centerfielder Khi Holiday with the tying run. Kitchens’ third RBI of the game set the stage for Slack in the ninth.
Eagles’ sophomore rightfielder Cameron Boyd extended his hitting streak to a team-best 20 games this season. The USI overall hitting streak record is 26 games, which is held by Kyle Kempf (last 12 games of 2015 and the first 14 of 2016), while the single-season record is 21 games, which is held by Logan Brown (2018).
Wall singled to start the ninth and advanced to third on a pair of groundouts. Slack doubled off the left field wall as Wall crossed the plate with the eventual game-winning 5-4 run.
USI sophomore right-hander Abdriel Figueroa closed out the game with a perfect ninth inning for his second save of the series. Figueroa got a pair of groundouts and struck out in the ninth inning.
The 5-4 victory went to junior right-hander Blake Kimball, who posted his team-best sixth win of the season. Kimball permitted a run on three hits, while striking out in 2.0 innings.
