SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Missouri Baptist University baseball dropped 11 runs on Benedictine University-Springfield on Friday evening and took the first game of the American Midwest Conference Tournament 11-1.
Missouri Baptist (31-9, 24-4) entered Friday's game as the No. 1 seed in the AMC tournament and began the game with a 6-0 lead after two innings. The Spartans tacked-on one run in the fifth, two in the sixth, and one each in the eighth and ninth innings to collect the team's 31st win of the season.
Spartan second baseman Pier Olivier-Dostaler came through for MBU all night. Dostaler went 4-6 in the game and drove in three runs with one stolen base. Ricky Pagan was also hot at the plate. The right fielder went 3-5 with three RBI.
Despite the big offensive numbers up and down the lineup, MBU starter Ethan Gibbons was the story. The Spartan ace went the distance and allowed one run on five hits with 12 strikeouts. The lone Bulldog run came in the sixth inning after Benedictine right fielder Zane Dillon tagged a leadoff triple. Travis Combs drove Dillon in, but that would be it for the Bulldogs in the game. Gibbons finished with 128 pitches thrown.
Earlier in the day, the No. 4-seeded Bulldogs outlasted the No. 5-seed Park University in 12 innings to open play in the 2013 AMC Tournament.
The Spartans will now advance in the round robin tournament and will play the No. 3-seed William Woods University on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. On Friday afternoon, the Owls upset the No. 2-seed and NAIA No. 20-ranked Lyon College in an 8-7 win.
William Woods has now won four of five this season against the Scots and will face MBU for the opportunity to advance to the championship game. The winner of the tournament will earn the conference automatic berth into the NAIA National Championship Opening Round.
GAME NOTES
Spartan starting pitcher Ethan Gibbons set a new career-high at MBU for strikeouts in a game with 12… Gibbons posted his fifth game of the season where he allowed zero walks…Missouri Baptist recorded five stolen bases in the game… MBU notched its 11th game of the season with double-digit run totals… Missouri Baptist is 4-0 in 2013 against William Woods
