The Lions baseball team bounced back from the April 17 loss to Montevallo by sweeping Christian Brothers University (CBU) in a three-game series April 20 and 21.

Mike Keehn, head coach, said before the CBU series that the team has been struggling with offense on the road.

“We have played well on the road, we are just not hitting as well as we do at home,” he said.

The offense scored 22 runs in the away series against CBU. The Lions’ pitchers only gave up 10 runs in the three-game series, something Keehn said the team has done well this season.

“Our pitching has been sound on the road all season,” he said.

The bullpen struggled against Montevallo in the April 17 game.

“It has been a pattern for our mid-week games,” Keehn said.

Keehn said the performance of the bullpen has surprised him this year.

“Our bullpen was very good last year, but it has not been this year,” he said.

Riley Anderson started the game for UNA and went four innings. He only allowed two runs in those four innings, but once the relief pitchers came in, it was downhill from there.

“We keep magnifying the problem,” Keehn said. “We make a mistake on defense and a couple of runs come in, it makes it tough for our offense to catch up.”

Keehn said he is looking forward to the last couple of games before the conference tournament and wants to see improvement on the defensive side of the game.

“We need to pitch better and play defense better,” he said.

Keehn also said that the team needs it starters to be able to work further in the games.

“We need our starters to go as long they can so we can rest the relievers as much as possible,” he said.

As far as the GSC tournament is concerned, the Lions sit a half game behind West Florida for third place in the conference. They are also only a game and a half ahead of the sixth place West Georgia team. Keehn said that every team in the conference is at the same level and seeding does not matter all that much.

“I don’t think it matters what (seed) we get,” Keehn said. “I don’t know which team I would say I would rather play. It is pretty close throughout the conference.”

The Lions will play their final three games in Carrolton, Ga., against West Georgia in a series that could determine seeding in the GSC tournament.