Box Score ST. LOUIS – [BOX SCORE] Missouri Baptist baseball jumped-out to a three run lead over No. 1-seed Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) on Friday and continued to put timely runs on the board in a 7-4 win on day two of the American Midwest Conference Tournament in Springfield, Ill.
Missouri Baptist (38-10, 18-9 AMC) began Friday's winner's bracket game on the right foot with a three-run inning. Aaron Pangilinan and Tim Cusick raked back-to-back doubles in the top of the first to give the No. 4-seed MBU a quick 3-0 lead.
The Spartans built on their lead in the fifth as the duo of Orlando Olivera and Eli Roundtree cashed-in yet again. After Olivera's two-out single, Roundtree followed-up in the cleanup role and cleared the bases with one swing of the bat. The right fielder hit his 13th home run of the season and made it a 5-0 lead.
The Lions closed the gap in the bottom-half of the fifth. Bobby Seda doubled to lead-off in the inning and two batters later, the bases were loaded with no outs. Just as the Spartans seemed to have found their way into trouble, a double-play put two outs on the board.
Nathan Van Nortwick came to the plate with two away and delivered a two RBI single to cut the Lion deficit to 5-2.
The Spartans collected two more runs down the stretch and rolled to the winner's bracket final.
Dave Mullins got the start for Missouri Baptist on Friday and followed-up his perfect game of a week ago with another big performance. The left-handed pitcher tossed seven solid innings and allowed three runs on seven hits with seven strikeouts.
Austin Sweet and Carl Jameson threw for Missouri Baptist in the eighth before Marcus Crescentini entered to slam the door in the ninth. It was his 10th save of the season.
The Spartans will now advance to the finals of the winner's bracket with a chance to play for the conference tournament title on the line. First pitch on Saturday is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. at Robin Roberts Stadium in Springfield, Ill.
