INDEPENDENCE, Mo. – [BOX SCORE] No. 3-ranked Missouri Baptist posted its fifth conference shutout on Saturday and held Benedictine-Springfield (Ill.) to three runs in two games on Saturday in a 5-0 and 6-3 sweep of the Bulldogs. 

Missouri Baptist (22-2, 8-1 AMC) grabbed a 5-0 win in the first of the conference doubleheader. The Spartans scored three in the third and added one run each in the fourth and sixth innings.

Brian Poupore returned to the Spartan lineup on Friday, but made his presence felt in game one on Saturday. The center fielder led-off in the third and singled to start the three-run inning for MBU. Then in the sixth, he homered to post the fifth run of the game for the visitors.

Tim Cusick also had two hits in game and helped to lead the Spartans to a big conference win.

Randy Wynne had another electric game on the mound. The junior from San Diego, Calif., posted another two-hit outing as he went the distance in the win.

The Bulldogs kept it close in game two, but the Spartans pulled away in the latter innings. Pre-Season All-American Brandon Zywicki got the nod and tossed six innings and allowed four runs (three earned) on seven hits with five strikeouts.

The Spartans took the lead in the third inning. A Brent Zimmerman ground out and an RBI single by Orlando Olivera scored the first two runs to put MBU on top 2-0. The Bulldogs got one back in the bottom-half, however. An error and a Brandon Pesko single put Benedictine-Springfield on the board.

The Missouri Baptist bats went back to work in the fifth. Jeff Smith tripled after Aaron Collazo walked to lead-off the inning to make it a 3-1 Spartan lead. They tacked-on another later in the inning and were soon up 4-1. The Bulldogs, however, stayed right in it with a two-run bottom-half to make it 4-3.

Up by just a run, the Spartan pitching was key down the stretch as the offense tacked two more on. Ryan Stapp, Carl Jameson and Marcus Crescentini combined for three innings and shut the door on the Bulldog momentum for the afternoon.

Missouri Baptist is now 8-1 in AMC play this season and has recorded five shutouts in the those nine games.

The Spartans will return home on Tuesday to take-on Harris-Stowe in a weekday conference doubleheader clash. Game time is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. at Spartan Field.