The Lincoln University baseball team returned to action Friday for the second leg of their southern trip, taking on Paine College in Augusta, Georgia in a "Battle of the Lions."  The Lincoln Lions won the opener 12-4 while the Paine College Lions took the nightcap 24-3.
 
Lincoln's record now stands at 4-7 overall while Paine's is  8-10.

In the opener, seven of the Lincoln's starting nine recorded at least one hit as they defeated Paine 12-4 at Lions field.

Rolando Alvarez (Brooklyn, N.Y./Nazareth Regional HS) (2-1) got the win for the Lions, pitching a complete game, allowing four runs on seven hits while striking out four. Ronald Lashley (Brooklyn, N.Y./Benjamin Banneker Academy) had three hits, a stolen base and drove in two runs while Brendan Sherman-Johnson (Baltimore, Md./Baltimore Polytech HS) drove in three runs with a single and a double.  Marquis Coleman (Middle River , Md./Baltimore Polytech HS) also drove in two runs.

Hardvis Batista took the loss for Paine in the opener.
 
Lincoln jumped on Batista for seven runs over the first two innings as they cruised to a 7-2 lead.  Joshua Roberson (Germantown, Md./Seneca Valley HS)'s double to left field brought home the first two LU runs in the opening inning before Sherman –Johnson singled him home.

Leading 3-1, Coleman tripled to lead off the second inning and scored on Julian Bradshaw (Brooklyn, N.Y./Brooklyn Generation HS)'s double to left center field.  Lashley followed with a single to score Coleman and later scored on a throwing error after stealing third base.  Four batters and two outs later, Sherman-Johnson plated Michael Howard (Bronx, N.Y./Utica College)  with a double to left center field and his second RBI of the game, giving the Lions a 7-1 lead.

Paine added a solo run in the bottom of the second and the score remained 7-2 until Lashley delivered a two-out single in the top half of the fifth to score Aiden Gomes (Bronx, N.Y./LaSalle Academy), who led off the inning with a single.

The Lions got their final four runs in their half of the sixth inning. Paine loaded the bases with nobody out when Sherman-Johnson drew the bases-loaded walk for his third RBI of the game.  Two batters later Coleman delivered a one-out single to plate two more LU runs.  Sherman-Johnson scored the final run for the Lions on a wild pitch.

Paine added two runs in the bottom of the sixth to round out the scoring.
 
Luis Nieves (Staten Island, N.Y./LaSalle Academy) took the loss for Lincoln in the nightcap, lasting just one inning plus a few batters, giving up 11 runs as Paine exploded for 19 runs over the first three innings.
 
Roberson, Gomes, Coleman and Bradshaw had two hits apiece for the Lions.
 
LU got all their runs in the second inning.  Trailing 5-0, the squad laced five hits in the inning, scoring three times to pull within two at 5-3.  Roberson singled to leadoff the inning.  Christian Gil (Staten Island, N.Y./LaSalle Academy) walked and Sherman-Johnson singled to load the bases with nobody out.  Gomes, Coleman and Bradshaw followed with consecutive singles each driving in a run.  Gomes was out trying score trying to score on Bradshaw's single and Paine's pitcher Evan Krenz retired the next two batters to end the inning.
 
From there it was all Paine as the Lions scored eight runs in the second, six more in the third and five more times over the next three innings to cruised to the lopsided 24-3 win.
 
Lincoln returns to action tomorrow when they play the final two games of their southern trip, a doubleheader at Claflin College starting at 1 p.m.