OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – [BOX SCORE] After a 24 hour delay in play at the 2015 NAIA Baseball National Championship Opening Round, Missouri Baptist ran into a tough Concordia (Calif.) team. The Eagles scored four runs on nine hits as they defeated the Spartans 4-1 on Thursday afternoon.

Missouri Baptist (43-12) struggled at the plate as Concordia's Dillon Moran was lights-out on the mound. The sophomore posted 12 strikeouts in seven and two-thirds innings on the way to his fourth win of the year.

The Spartans countered with Ryan Stapp, who struggled with command in his four innings of work. The senior walked five and fanned two as he picked-up the loss.

MBU allowed three runs in the first two innings and never recovered, though they threatened several times. The Spartans left 10 runners stranded in the game as things never quite clicked offensively.

The Spartans allowed three of Concordia's four runs with two outs. The final one, a home run by Neil Lawhorn, was the first batter of the inning.

The Spartans were held scoreless until they broke through in the top of the eighth. With one out, Eli Roundtree doubled to right field. Then, with two outs one batter later, Tim Cusick hit an RBI triple, his first three-bagger of the year, to make it 4-1.

With Brian Poupore up and the MBU first baseman just 90 feet away, Cusick tried to take advantage of a ball that slipped away from catcher Luke Van Holten, but was gunned down at the plate to end the inning.

With the loss, the Spartans will face the winner of Oklahoma City and York (Neb.) at 10:00 p.m. this evening. The winner will move on to the Championship game on Friday at 12:00 p.m. against this same Concordia team.