ST. LOUIS – [BOX SCORE] The Spartans used a four-run seventh inning to surge past Hannibal-LaGrange and defeat the Trojans 7-2 Friday afternoon at Spartan Field.
Brian Poupore and Culver Plant led the charge offensively for the Spartans. Poupore helped MBU jump on top in the first when he went the opposite way for his second home run of the year. The bomb put the Spartans up 2-0 and brought home Tim Hergert, who led off with a walk.
The Spartans (18-6, 6-1) added to their lead in the third. Josh Miguel led off with a single, stole second and later advanced to third on a wild pitch. Plant then brought him home with an RBI sacrifice fly to center.
Donnie Lovelady (5-1) blanked the Trojans (0-22, 0-7) through the first five innings, while only allowing one hit. However, the pesky Hannibal squad got to the right-hander for runs in both the sixth and seventh.
Pedro Veloz put Hannibal-LaGrange on the board with a home run to left in the sixth. The Trojans then made it a 3-2 game the next inning on an RBI single from Nick Dabrowski. That brought the go-ahead run to the plate, but Lovelady buckled down and got the next batter to strikeout to get out of the jam.
MBU took advantage of four walks to give themselves more breathing room in the seventh. Plant came up with the bases loaded and one out and reached on a fielder's choice. He then advanced to second and brought home two runs when the third baseman threw wide to the plate after fielding Plant's grounder.
That put the Spartans ahead 5-2 and Poupore added to it with a two-RBI triple to bring home Hergert and Plant and break the game open at 7-2.
Jake Triulzi secured the victory with two scoreless innings in relief. Poupore finished 2-4 with three RBI's, Plant added three more runs batted in and Hector Candeleria went 3-3 at the dish to lead the offense.
The Spartans will look to ride the momentum from today's win into a doubleheader on Saturday against the Trojans. First pitch of game one is set for 12:00 pm.
