ST. LOUIS – [BOX SCORE] Missouri Baptist was in the driver's seat in a non-conference affair against Culver-Stockton (Mo.) on Tuesday after building a 10-1 lead, but the Wildcats made it a tight game after five and a half. The Spartans were forced to post two more late runs as Marcus Crescentini shut the door in a 12-10 win at Spartan Field.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

3/31/2015

Missouri Baptist (25-4, 10-3 AMC) looked to turn the page after dropping two of three to Park (Mo.) on Saturday. The team was in good shape after one inning. The Spartans hung six runs on Wildcat starter Derek Schwab, five of which were earned, on the backs of two home runs.

Orlando Olivera drilled the first pitch he saw over the left field fence to make it 2-0. Aaron Pangilinan followed with a two-run shot of his own and by the time the dust settled, the Spartans were up by six.

Though the Wildcats got one back in the third. Brock Kartheiser recorded an RBI on the ground ball fielder's choice to short to make it 6-1.

Missouri Baptist made it 9-1 in the bottom half of the third and then 10-1 after five, but that was when the Wildcats began to dig-out of the hole. Culver-Stockton recorded five singles and a triple in the inning and posted seven runs to quickly turn the game on its head and make it 10-8.

Timely hitting became the name of the game, and the Spartans were able to provide that on a day where the team recorded 13 hits. Jeff Smith and Austyn Nagamine tripled in the bottom-half of the inning and Brent Zimmerman doubled on the way to a two-run inning, which ended-up as the difference.

Smith went 3-5 on the day with three RBI and a home run, while Nagamine also recorded three hits on the day.

Chris Cordova started Tuesday's game and looked very good through five innings of work. The crafty veteran grabbed his first win of the season and went five strong innings while he allowed one run on one hit.

The Spartans will get back to it on Wednesday when they will face the Missouri Valley Vikings. First pitch is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. at Spartan Field.

GAME NOTES

Austyn Nagamine recorded his first, three-hit game of his Spartan career on Tuesday… Jeff Smith now ranks second on the team, behind Orlando Olivera, with four, three-hit games in 2015… Orlando Olivera's home run was his team-leading ninth of the season… Eli Roundtree walked in his first four plate appearances on Saturday, which was a new career-high… Orlando Olivera extended a five-game hitting streak to six on Tuesday. His season long is 13 games… After going 3-6 on the day, Olivera is now hitting .442 on the season… Missouri Baptist has now played 62 percent of its schedule this season