The Lyle-Pacelli baseball team wrapped up its third straight Southeast Conference title as it got its bats going in a sweep of Schaeffer Academy to close out the regular season in Marcusen Park Tuesday.

The Athletics racked up 21 hits as they beat the Lions 9-6 in both games to clinch the SEC crown.

Kevin Juenger picked up the win in the opening game clincher as he didn’t walk a batter in seven innings and he also knocked in three runs in the win. LP trailed that game 4-2 when it scored five runs to go up 7-4 in the bottom of the fourth. Juenger had a two-out, two-run single to right field to cap that rally.

Juenger, who is a senior, has played on all three of LP’s SEC championship teams.

“It felt great [to win that game],” Juenger said. “[LP head coach] Brock [Meyer] didn’t let me pitch that first year and the last two years he let me pitch. It felt great knowing that I earned his trust and I could help my team. Daniel Bollingberg has a huge hit streak going, Jordan Hart has had some great at bats and Matt Kasel came in and brought leadership in centerfield for us.”

Bollingberg had a monster day at the plate for LP (13-5 overall, 10-1 SEC) as he went 6-for-7 with a double, a triple, a home run and five RBIs. Bollingberg said it’s been great to be a part of three straight conference titles, but he’s hoping for more this season as the No. 6 seeded Athletics will play at No. 3 Hayfield in the Section 1A tournament opener Thursday at 5 p.m.

“It’s great to go to the park and know you have a chance to win every day. We always need to show up and sometimes that’s a problem for us in some of the conference games,” Bollingberg said. “Today we were just trying to get focused and set for Thursday. We feel like we’re playing pretty well and we’re looking forward to it. I’m hoping we can change it this year and start getting playoff wins.”

Meyer was pleased with his team getting the sweep on Tuesday, but he would also like to see his team strive to play better. The Athletics lost 4-0 to Hayfield April 25 and they’re hoping to put up a good effort in the re-match.

“We’ve got to come out with better focus and intensity to start the game or Hayfield will jump all over us and it’s tough to come back against a team like that,” Meyer said. “We’ve still got to do a better job of getting runners over. On Thursday one or two runs is going to matter.”

Schaeffer  2 0 0  2 0 1  1  —  6  14  2

LP 0 2 0  5 0 2 X  — 9   9   1

LP pitching: Kevin Juenger (W) 7 IP, 14 H, 6 ER, 1 K

LP hitting: Daniel Bollingberg, 3-for-4, triple, 3 RBIs, R; Jordan Hart, 0-for-2, R, SB, BB; Matt Kasel, 0-for-4; Lee Bauer, 0-for-2, RBI, BB; Juenger, 1-for-3, 3 RBIs; Braden Kocer, 1-for-3, R, BB; Shayan Qureshi, 3-for-4, 2 R, SB; Corey Retterath, 0-for-2, R, BB

Schaeffer 0 0 0  0 4 2 0  — 6  7  2

LP 1 2 2  3 1 0 X — 9 12 3

LP pitching: Kasel (W) 4 1/3 IP, 4 H, 7 BB, 4 ER; Jordan Cotter, 1 2/3 IP, 3 H, 3 BB, 2 ER, 1 K; Jordan Hart (S) 1 IP, 0 R, 2 K

LP hitting: Bollingberg, 3-for-3, HR, double, 2 RBIs, 3 R, 2 SB; Cotter, 0-for-3, BB; Hart, 3-for-4, 3 doubles, 3 RBIs; Kasel, 1-for-3, R, BB; Bauer, 0-for-3, R, BB; Juenger, 2-for-4, RBI, R, SB; Kcoer, 2-for-4, 3 RBIs; Qureshi, 0-for-4, SB; Isaac Kraushaar, 1-for-4, R