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Box Score 2 ST. LOUIS – [GAME 1 BOX] [GAME 2 BOX] Missouri Baptist Baseball scored early and often on Saturday in the doubleheader conclusion of its three-game series against Lindenwood University-Belleville (Ill.). The Spartans scored 20 runs over the course of two games in 7-3 and 13-7 wins in Sauget, Ill. The wins extended the team's season-long win streak to 12 games.
Missouri Baptist (24-6) looked like one of the top teams in the nation on Saturday as the team scored runs in bunches. In both games, the team broke the game open in the second inning. Of the 20 runs on the day across both contests, 13 came across in the second in each.
Jared Crescentini got the start in game one on Saturday and the hurler put together another masterful performance. The junior from Wesley Chapel, Fla., went six innings and allowed three runs, two of which were earned, while racking-up eight strikeouts. He allowed just four hits in his outing as he moved into a tie for the team lead in wins with Donnie Lovelady with six.
Missouri Baptist posted six runs in the second inning in game one and jumped all over the Lynx early. Austin Rieman set the table with a lead-off double to kick-start the offense. Though the double was his only hit of game one, over the course of the day the Spartan designated hitter went 4-8.
Rieman came around to score after an Austyn Nagamine RBI single to right field. The Spartans' first seven batters of the inning reached base and the team recorded three singles and two doubles in the inning.
Brandon Schlictig followed Nagamine's single with one of his own. The first baseman's single to left scored two more and the inning ended with a sizeable lead for the visiting Spartans.
Both Nagamine and Schlictig led the team with two RBI a piece while Josh Miguel went 2-4 in the game.
Missouri Baptist plated another in the fifth before Lindenwood-Belleville began making end-roads on the offensive end. The Lynx scored two in the fifth and one in the sixth, but were unable to climb all the way out of their hole.
Left fielder Eric Hansen led the team at the dish. The sophomore from Eureka, Mo., went 2-2 with an RBI in the game.
Game two was a defensive struggle as both offenses put-up big numbers. After a scoreless first, another big second inning for Missouri Baptist led the team and set the tone in the contest. The Spartans posted seven runs, all with two outs. After a single to lead-off the inning, Angel Cruz was picked-off. Just two batters later, with a runner at first, Hector Candeleria flied out. That was when things got interesting.
Mike Levar doubled and was one of seven Missouri Baptist hits in the top of the second. Levar's double scored the first run of the inning as 12 Spartans batted.
Brian Poupore was red hot at the plate in the game, including the seven-run second. The center fielder recorded a three-RBI double into the right-center field gap, and increased the lead to 6-0. He later homered on a solo shot in the seventh and now leads the team with three round-trippers in 2016.
The Lynx responded with a big inning of their own in the bottom of the third to cut the lead to three. Lindenwood-Belleville plated four runs in the inning as catcher Drew Fair drove-in three. The junior, also out of Eureka, Mo., sent a ball down the left field line, which scored three, and put the home team right back into it.
Missouri Baptist, however, showed why it still has one of the most dangerous offenses the NAIA has to offer.
The Spartans scored when it mattered the most in Saturday's finale. The Lynx cut the deficit to one in the fifth with a two-run outburst, but Missouri Baptist answered back in the final three innings.
After Poupore's home run in the seventh, the Spartans scored three in the eighth and two more in the ninth to preserve its 12th consecutive win of the year, and third American Midwest Conference sweep of 2016.
Poupore finished the game 3-6 at the plate with four RBI. Leadoff man Tim Hergert went 3-5 with three RBI while Angel Cruz went 2-4 with three stolen bases.
With the win, Missouri Baptist improves to 24-6 and 11-1 in American Midwest Conference play. After a wild weekend in AMC Baseball action, the Spartans now hold a two game lead in the conference standings, thanks to a William Woods (Mo.) win over Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) in the series finale and a Lyon (Ark.) series loss to Central Baptist (Ark).
Missouri Baptist will now head back home and play host for six games in the coming week. On Friday, April 1, as the Spartans host Central Baptist, the team will present the Spartan Selfie Challenge. Fans that take a selfie of themselves at the game and post to social media using #MBUCanesSelfie will get buy one, get one free on a box combo at Raising Cane's on Manchester for 24 hours after the game. The game will be sponsored by Raising Cane's.
