HARROGATE, Tenn. – Roosevelt came up just short in an 18-16 loss to Lincoln Memorial on a windy day in Tennessee on Sunday.

The Lakers (5-13) and Railsplitters combined for 37 hits, 14 of which went for extra bases, and just two scoreless half innings in the series finale between the two sides. Roosevelt was playing from behind for much of the day after Lincoln Memorial scored nine in the first inning, but the Lakers still sent the tying run to the plate in the ninth.

A pair of walks sandwiched around a James Berry single loaded the bases for Roosevelt in the first inning, and Jack Kieffer delivered with a two-run single. Luke Ulbert blasted a solo home run in the second inning after the Railsplitters' monstrous inning to make it 9-3, then Jack Hoh came around to score on an RBI groundout from Fabian Cruz in the fourth.

Lincoln Memorial extended its lead to 14-4 after four innings then the crooked numbers began to appear on the scoreboard for the Lakers. Christian Degroot reached on an error to lead off the fifth inning and he scored from second base on another error from the Railsplitters. Ulbert hit his second homer of the game two batters later, scoring Cruz in the process to cut the deficit to 14-7.

Kekoa Ogawa led off the sixth inning with a double then Kieffer found a hole on the left side to put runners on the corners. Dimitri Spatharakis plated both runners with a triple then later scored on a single from Cruz. Hoh drove in a run in the seventh inning with a single then Cruz worked a bases-loaded walk to cut the Railsplitters lead to 17-12. Berry drove in Sebastian Casillas in the eighth inning to add a 13^th run to the scoreboard for the Lakers.

Roosevelt came to the plate in the ninth inning needing five runs to continue the game, and nearly pulled off the comeback. Aiden Brushaber singled into left field and Andrew Lucas followed with a single of his own. Casillas loaded the bases with a third single, and Ulbert delivered with a double to left field that scored two runs. Berry again drove in
Casillas, this time with an RBI groundout, bringing the tying run to the plate.

Berry led the Lakers' offense with four hits and scored two runs while driving in a pair as well. Kieffer, Ogawa and Ulbert all had three hits in the contest and Casillas had a pair of hits also. Ulbert had a career-best five RBIs, followed closely by Cruz, who was 1 for 4 with four RBIs in the loss.

UP NEXT: Roosevelt plays its first conference series in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference next weekend with a four-game set at Saginaw Valley State starting on Friday.