ST. LOUIS – After taking two of three on the opening weekend against Belhaven, Missouri Baptist baseball dropped its first two games of the week. After a 4-1 loss to Campbellsville, the Spartans lost its second game of the day to Lindsey Wilson, 5-4.
Missouri Baptist (2-3) began game one against Campbellsville down after a 2-0 third inning by the Tigers. Center fielder Aaron Schwoebel singled to right and advanced to second on a bobbled ball by MBU catcher Joe Stropp. Tanner Neilson came to the plate one batter later and reached base on an error by Vincenzo Fesquez, allowing Schwoebel to score and put the first run on the board. Designhted hitter Patrick McMeel then drove in a run, which proved to be the difference.
MBU put just one run on the board in the top of the fourth. Joe Stropp drove in a run off an error by third baseman Joe Potter, but that would be all the offense that the Spartans could deliver in the game.
Game two began much differently, but the result was the same. The Spartans scored one run in each of the first three innings to grab a quick lead, but Lindsey Wilson also proved to be up to the challenge.
The Blue Raiders put two runs on the board in the fourth and fifth innings and posted one in the ninth off MBU closer Matt Marsh to take game two, 5-4.
The Spartan starting pitcher Julien Soucy was given a 3-0 lead but had troubles holding it. MBU began the first inning with a one-out walk by Ryan Clarke. Blue Raider's starter Darren Travers allowed Clarke to reach third on consecutive passed balls. Third basemen Jo Jo Taylor reached on a walk bringing Ryan Gunhouse to the plate. Gunhouse grounded into a fielder's choice and reached first and allowed Clarke to score to bring-in the first run of the game.
In the second inning, Kyle Turner singled, stole a base and scored on another Travers passed ball to make it a 2-0 Spartan lead. More of the same in the third as Clarke scored again off a Gunhouse sacrifice fly to put MBU up by three.
The Blue Raiders came back in the bottom of the fourth. Designated hitter Kory Weeks drove in the first two on a sharply hit grounder through the hole at second base to get his team on the board and made it a 3-2 Spartan lead.
Missouri Baptist extended the lead in the fifth. Patrick Johnson singled to shallow left-center and stole second to put the lead batter into scoring position. Johnson crossed home plate on another Blue Raider passed ball to make the score 4-2 MBU. This ended-up becoming the final run that the Spartans put on the board.
Lindsey Wilson added two in the bottom of the fifth as shortstop Leandro Perez drove in a run and scored to tie the game at four headed into the bottom of the sixth. From this point forward, both teams posted zero's until the Blue Raiders broke the tie in the bottom of the ninth.
With Matt Marsh on the mound, the Spartans watched as the game slipped away. Marsh hit the first batter and got the next two in a row, leaving a man at third with two away. Center fielder Manuel Alonso delivered the game-winning RBI on a single to center. This was the lone hit that Marsh gave-up in the game.
Missouri Baptist sent two pitchers to the mound after the six innings of work from starter Julien Soucy. Jacob Eichhorn threw one scoreless inning in relief in addition to Marsh. With the loss, the Spartans drop to 2-3 on the year and will play the same two teams on Friday. First pitch in game one is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.
