The Lenoir-Rhyne Baseball Team’s success in doubleheaders carried over into conference play, with the Bears taking both games on the road over Anderson.

In the 12 doubleheader contests this season, the Bears have an impressive 11-1 record. For most of those contests, those games typically produce the best version of LR offense, and that was no different today.

Recording 12 extra-base hits and 23 runs, the Bears took care of the Trojans in both matchups to start SAC play with a 2-0 record.

For the first game, LR used a great start offensively in the first three innings to jump out to a 4-0 advantage. Bundled in with Joshua Lanham’s third victory of the season and some late game sparks, the Bears distanced themselves from the Trojans in a 9-2 final.

In the second contest, the Bears scored 3+ runs in three of the first four innings of the game. Thanks to some great hitting and Anderson mistakes, LR flew by the hosts and did not look back in the seven-inning contest, winning by a 14-7 result.

Wade Cuda logged in the first and last RBI of the game for the Bears; a RBI double in the second inning and a RBI triple in the ninth inning. He led all Bears with two RBIs in the contest. Lanham’s eight strikeouts make it his fifth-straight 8+ strikeout performance to start the season.

Cuda’s and Blake Bean’s triples in the same game make it the first game where the Bears have recorded multiple triples this season. The Trojans had a game to forget out on the field with committing four errors; all from four different Anderson players.

The Bears did a good job not retiring at the plate as they suffered only three strikeouts; the Trojans on the other hand were put down 10 times in the box. Five of the LR starters all recorded at least two base hits, with eight of the nine starters getting on with at least one knock.

Tyler McPeak smoked his sixth home run of the season, which moves him into a tie at the top with Bean for most home runs.

The 14 runs the Bears scored in the second game of the doubleheader is the most that LR has scored in a seven-inning game this season. With their 16 hits in 36 at-bats, it is the best hitting game by the Bears this season with a .444 average.

After going hitless in the first game, Bryce Stober went a perfect 3-3 at the plate and recorded 2 runs and a RBI. Both sides had equally difficult times out on the field, with each team committing three errors on the game. In total, the Bears had 4 on the afternoon while the Trojans had 7 mistakes.

The Bears rattled Anderson’s starting pitcher Nathan Sanders, who entered as one of the statisically-best pitchers in the SAC. The Graduate Student gave up eight hits and five earned runs in 2.2 innings pitched.

Reid earned his third victory of the season, to match Lanham with most winning decisions. He also matched his longest outing of the season with 5.0 innings pitched and his second-highest strikeout total with six. LR’s 13 RBIs is most runs drove in by the Bears in a single game on the road this season; It is the second-best behind the 16 RBIs against Southern Wesleyan on Feb. 18.

With the doubleheader sweep, the Bears have now won 9 of their last 11 contests against the Trojans. LR now has just as many wins against Anderson on the road as they do at home with 14.

It is now the second-straight season where the Bears have won their opening series of conference play.

For the time being, the Bears are the last remaining undefeated team in the SAC with their 2-0 conference record.

Now that the all-time series record sits at 28-13, the 68.3 winning percentage for LR over Anderson makes it the most successful conference opponent the Bears have faced.

The Lenoir-Rhyne Baseball Team will return to Memorial Stadium on Sunday, March 5 for the series finale against the Anderson Trojans at 1 p.m.