After the day off on Saturday, the Lynx returned to Stauffer field to take on the Grinnell College Pioneers in the final game of the Spring Break Tournament. Rhodes came into the game with a tournament record of 2-0 as they battled to cap off the tournament with a perfect record.
The Rhodes bats were held quiet in the first three innings, but that would not last for long as Daniel Hicks executed a squeeze bunt scoring Cooper Kuriger and pushing across the first run of the game for the Lynx. Dante Messina would then score on a passed ball shortly after that to give the Lynx the lead in the bottom of the 4th. The red-hot Ben Burkhart would get a chance with two runners on in the bottom of the 5th, and he capitalized by stroking a base-clearing triple into right-center field, extending the lead to 4-1. That would bring Burkhart's team-leading triple total to 5 on the season. Another run would come across to score in the bottom of the 5th thanks to a sacrifice fly from Corbin Kinder, allowing Ben Burkhart to tag up and score.
The score remained 5-1 going into the bottom of the 8th, but Rhodes was not content, as an RBI single from Malcolm Rohlfing brought Quinn Blackman to the plate. Later, Ben Burkhart would draw a bases-loaded walk, plating Rohlfing, and Cooper Kuriger followed it up by driving in Myles Kruger on a groundout.
A good day on offense for the Lynx was complimented by the pitching staff as freshman Andrew Carron and senior Thomas LeMaster combined for nine innings of 1 run baseball, dominating the Pioneer lineup. Carron dealt 3.2 innings in his start, only allowing one run. Thomas LeMaster would enter in a two-out jam in the top of the 4th but was not phased as he recorded the single-out he needed by tossing a 3-pitch strikeout. LeMaster was unstoppable from there as he put together a relief appearance lasting 5.1 innings in which he struck out 4, only allowing three hits and 0 runs, guiding the Lynx to their perfect tournament record of 3-0.
Rhodes will stay at home this week as they play a midweek matchup against Mississippi University for Women at 3 p.m. on Tuesday.
