ST. LOUIS – [BOX SCORE GAME 1] [BOX SCORE GAME 2] William Woods built off a 4-3 win on Friday to take an 8-6 win over Missouri Baptist in the first of two games on Saturday in AMC baseball action. MBU came back in the finale to take game three of the series 10-3, but dropped its first conference series of the 2014 season.
Missouri Baptist (33-7, 16-4 AMC) had its hands full over the weekend against a motivated William Woods team that is trying to crack the NAIA Coaches' Top 25 for the first time this season. The Owls overcame a three-run deficit going into the bottom of the fourth and proceeded to take control of game two in the season series.
WWU scored two in the fourth and three runs in both the fifth and the sixth to take a commanding 8-3 lead. The Spartans, however, still had a bit left in the tank. The team from St. Louis hung a three-spot on the board in the top of the seventh, but it was too little, too late.
Dave Mullins was chased from the game after surrendering five earned runs in four and one-third innings. The MBU starter walked four and gave-up a two-run home run to Nick Spagnola before leaving the game.
Dan Harper and Orlando Olivera led the team in the first game of the day. Harper went 3-4 with three RBI and a two-run home run in the seventh, while Olivera also went 3-4 with two doubles and two runs scored.
Game two was a completely different story as Michael Yarborough went to work for the Spartans. Yarborough held the Owls to one unearned run in six and a third innings of work to earn his ninth win of the season. He joins fellow starter Brandon Zywicki as the only two pitchers in the NAIA, as of Saturday evening, that have as many wins without yet recording a loss.
The Spartans posted three runs in the third and proceeded to run-off one in the fourth and four runs in the fifth to take complete control of the contest.
Eli Roundtree led MBU in the final game of the day. The Spartan designated hitter went 3-5 with a two-run home run to the opposite field to extend the lead to 10-3 in the ninth inning.
Missouri Baptist lost two consecutive games over the weekend for the first time since the beginning of February when the team dropped the first three games of the season.
The Spartans will now look forward to a full week as the team will travel to Sauget, Ill., for a doubleheader against Lindenwood-Belleville on Tuesday, a single game against Culver-Stockton College in Canton, Mo., on Wednesday and a the final home AMC weekend series against Hannibal-LaGrange on Saturday.
