ST. LOUIS – Missouri Baptist baseball opened the 2013 campaign with two runs in the first inning at Belhaven University on Friday on the way to a 6-3 victory.

Missouri Baptist (1-0) began the season as the No. 14-ranked team in the NAIA according to the NAIA Pre-Season Coaches' Top 25. The team did not disappoint in its first outing.

The Spartans gave the nod to senior right-handed pitcher Julien Soucy and the Arizona native had a big game. He went seven solid innings, allowing just one hit and no runs, picking-up where he left off last season.

MBU picked-up its first two runs in the first, both unearned. Spartan leadoff hitter Patrick Johnson walked and stole second base just before the No. 2 hitter, Pier Olivier-Dostaler, walked making it men at first and second with no outs. Belhaven's David Hill proceeded to throw a wild pitch into the dirt to Jo Jo Taylor which scored both Johnson and Olivier-Dostaler.

After the two-run first, MBU did not put its third run on the board until the fourth inning. Senior Kyle Turner hit a one-out single up the middle and stole second to put himself in scoring position. A wild pitch allowed Turner to advance to third and gave Spartan first basemen Garrett Yost his first opportunity to drive a run home. Yost hit a fly ball to right field, which allowed Turner to score from third, and put Missouri Baptist up 3-0.

MBU posted two more runs in the sixth, which seemed insignificant at the time, and gave the team a 5-0 lead. Jo Jo Taylor led things off for Missouri Baptist in the inning and hit a double to right center, putting another potential run in scoring position. After a Ryan Gunhouse single, Ricky Pagan hit his first double of the season, which scored Taylor, to give his team its fourth run. This is the one that proved to be the game winner.

Garret Yost scored on a fielder's choice later in the sixth and Taylor doubled and scored in the seventh to solidify the win for the Spartans.

The Blazers put together a three-run ninth inning on three hits, but was not quite able to crawl out of the hole.

Though the Spartans put six runs on the board, the story was Soucy. The MBU starting pitcher threw a well-executed game with some excellent breaking balls that kept the Blazers off-balance. In fact, Soucy had a perfect game through 5-2/3 innings before issuing his first and only free pass of the night.

The no-hitter was broken-up by Belhaven designated hitter Caleb Baucum with one out in the seventh. That inning was Soucy's last of the day.

The Spartans will get back to it tomorrow afternoon for games two and three at Belhaven. Game one is scheduled for a 1:00 p.m. first pitch.