Having experienced a trip to the final four last year, the Lincoln Cardinal baseball team is anxious to get back. And thanks to a six-run second inning against Concordia in the Class 2 sectional game at Lincoln, the Cardinals are just one win away from a return trip.
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Lincoln’s 8-2 victory wasn’t clear-sailing though. Cardinal starting pitcher Connor Spunaugle gave up a run in each of the first two innings and Concordia led twice at 1-0 and 2-1. From there though the Lincoln ace settled down for a complete game victory, allowing no more runs and scattering six hits with eight strike-outs.
The Cardinals offense needed just one big inning to take control.
The decisive second frame started innocently enough with a Sam Hinrichs liner to Concordia third baseman Brayden McGinnis, who’s throw to catcher Spencer Brown was droped, allowing Corbin Reese to score the tying run.
After a bases-loaded walk to Jackson Beaman made it 3-2, Grant Eifert then got the big hit of the night with a 3-run triple to deep center field in which Concordia outfielder Caleb Pfannkuch tracked the fly ball, stopped and set up for the catch, and then tried to recover as the ball went over his head. The ball hit his glove on the misjudged fly, but was ruled a three-run triple that put the Cardinals ahead 6-2.
“I saw that this was a great place to come up with a big hit and bust this thing open, Eifert said about the play that changed the game. “I found my pitch but at first I thought he was going to get it. Good thing for us he dropped it. It got us pumped up. It got me pumped up too.”
Eifert would go 1-3 at the plate with 4 RBI’s while Jackson Beaman was 2-3 with an RBI and three runs scored.
The win sends the Cardinals to Adrian on Wednesday for the Class 2 quarterfinals. And after getting to the state semifinals last year before falling to Canton 5-4, the Cardinals definitely want to get back to the final four.
“After getting our first taste of it we found it tasted pretty good,” Eifert said with a smile. “We know we can do this again. It was a great feeling and we sure want to get back there.”
And it doesn’t hurt that this year has seen quite a bit of state success for Lincoln athletics with the football Cardinals getting to the final four and the girls softball team finishing third at state just this past weekend.
“The seasons kept moving along and we were thinking ‘why not us’ because we can be there too,” Eifert said. “We have a great group of athletes here and we wanna keep the ball rolling. I think we can do it again and all we have to do is stay focused and reach our goal.”
