ST. LOUIS – Missouri Baptist extended its season-long winning streak to seven games on Friday with the help of the long ball. Spartan third baseman Jo Jo Taylor hit a homerun in both games to lead MBU to 4-0 and 5-4 victories.
Missouri Baptist (13-5, 7-0) never relinquished a run in game one against the Owls. The Spartans scored one in the bottom of the first to take a quick 1-0 lead on William Woods ace, Adam Brush. Brush entered the game with a 4-1 record and a 1.47 ERA, but suffered his second loss on the year. MBU tagged the Owl ace for three earned runs in the game.
In the third inning, Taylor broke the game open for the Spartans and gave starting pitcher Ethan Gibbons a cushioned lead. Taylor drove an 0-1 fastball over the right field fence to make it a 4-0 lead for the home team.
For Missouri Baptist, Gibbons gave up eight hits and two free passes, but finished with a shutout as he improved to 4-0 in 2013.
The Spartans took game two, but needed all five runs to get the job done. Julien Soucy took the hill in second of the double dip and threw six serviceable innings. The Owls posted one run in the first thanks to an RBI single by William Woods first baseman Eilert Meyers. This was the only earned run charged to Soucy in the game.
Down by one in the bottom of the fifth, Missouri Baptist rose to the occasion. The team posted five earned runs, capped off with another homerun by Taylor. On a full count, the Spartan senior smacked a three-run shot to nearly the exact same spot over the right field fence.
With a 5-1 deficit and time winding down, William Woods mounted a comeback. The Owls scored three unanswered runs off Dan Harper in the seventh inning to make it a one-run, 5-4 game. Harper threw two-thirds of an inning and gave up just one earned run in his outing. MBU committed two costly errors in that time, which helped WWU to get back into the game.
The Owls threatened again in the eighth, but with two outs, Coach Eddie Uschold made a bold pitching move. Uschold removed reliever Chris Kenney with two outs, the tying run at second base, and a 2-0 count to pinch hitter Mike Vinnitsky in favor of closer Matt Marsh.
The hard-throwing righty threw a wild pitch to advance the runner to third. With the tying run 90 feet away, Marsh got second baseman Greg Hamrock to ground out to third to end the threat.
Marsh returned in the ninth and faced the minimum in the dramatic win. The Missouri Baptist defense forced-out the lead runner in consecutive fielder's choice grounders to put two outs on the board with the tying run at first.
With two away, catcher Joe Stropp sealed the win for MBU. Stropp threw down to first and picked-off the runner as Missouri Baptist finished the day with a win.
Shortstop Patrick Johnson had another impressive day. The leadoff hitter hit .500 over the course of both games while Taylor led the team with five RBI.
The Spartans will attempt to take two more against the Owls on Saturday in the second doubleheader of the weekend. Game time is currently scheduled for 12:00 p.m. but may be moved to the morning pending the changing weather forecast. Updates on Saturday's game time may be found at MBUSpartans.com.
