(By IU Southeast Sports Information)
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. – The IU Southeast offense rolled and the pitching and defense were solid as IU Southeast cruised to an 8-4 win over Lindsey Wilson to begin NAIA Opening Round play Tuesday.
The Grenadiers (43-13) opened the scoring with two runs in the bottom of the second. After Logan Barnes and Matt Volz reached on back-to-back singles, Cody Maloon brought them in with a two-run single.
The Blue Raiders (37-23) got a run back in the top of the fourth, but IU Southeast responded with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth. Zach Reboulet hit an RBI single to right and Trent Simpson followed with a sacrifice fly to make it 4-1.
After the teams each pushed a run across in the sixth, the Grenadiers put the game away in the seventh with a two-out rally.
Cody Maloon doubled and scored on Clay Benefield's RBI single. Maloon had advanced to second on an error and he scored on Logan Coughlin's single. Kyle Asher doubled down the left field line to bring in Coughlin and make it an 8-2 game.
Ryne Underwood got the win. He worked 7 2/3 and gave up two runs on seven hits. He walked two and struck out three.
The Grenadiers pounded out 17 hits in the contest. Clay Benefield, Coughlin and Maloon each had three hits and Volz and Reboulet each had a pair.
IU Southeast will face the winner of No 1 seed Georgia Gwinnett and No. 5 seed British Columbia contest at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday.