BOLIVAR, Mo. - It took 12 innings to do it, but the Lincoln baseball team finally picked up its first win of the season Friday.
The Blue Tigers scored a run in all five of the extra frames in the seven-inning contest - including the game-winner in the top of the 12th - and held on for a 15-14 victory against Southwest Baptist.
The game was a wild one from the start, with the Blue Tigers outscoring the Bearcats 4-2 in the first inning alone.
Trevor Schnieders' two-run single was the big blow in the frame, while Dylan Koehler had an RBI single and B.J. Nesbitt drove in the other by reaching on a fielder's choice.
Lincoln stretched its lead to 7-2 in the top of the second. Nesbitt and Schnieders both drove in a run by getting hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, while Koehler had an RBI single.
But the Bearcats came roaring back with one in the third, three in the fourth and three in the fifth to lead 9-7.
The Blue Tigers forced extra innings by pushing across a pair of runs in the top of the seventh on an RBI double by Schnieders, who later came home on a double steal.
Each team scored in the eighth, Lincoln's coming on a solo home run by Kaleb Davis.
They did the same in the ninth, with the Blue Tigers' RBI single by Dillon Walker getting answered by the Bearcats in the bottom of the stanza.
Each team scored two in the 10th, Lincoln's coming on a two-run single by Schnieders.
In the 11th, each team scored a single run, with the Blue Tigers getting theirs on an RBI single by Nick Lovell.
An RBI single by Schnieders in the top of the 12th proved to be the difference.
Schnieders ended up going 4-for-6 with seven RBI in the victory, while Nesbitt and Koehler had three hits and two RBI apiece. Walker had two hits and one RBI, Lovell and Davis had one hit and one RBI each and Daniel Castillo had a pair of hits.
Jordan Barrett got the win in relief of Schnieders, while Ryan Simpson got the save. Schnieders pitched the first five innings, giving up nine earned runs on nine hits and three walks while striking out one. Barrett then gave up five runs (four earned) on five hits and three walks with four strikeouts. Simpson pitched a hitless inning.
Southwest Baptist got a measure of revenge in the nightcap, cruising to an 11-1 victory.
The Blue Tigers fell behind 11-0 before getting their run in the top of the seventh.
Simpson took the loss for Lincoln, giving up five runs on six hits in just 11/3 innings of work.
Lincoln (1-14, 1-8 Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association) and SBU (6-13, 3-10) will play another doubleheader today.