Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 ST. LOUIS – [GAME 1 BOX] [GAME 2 BOX] The Spartans played Lyon College (Ark.) even for a majority of Friday afternoon, but were edged in both contests, 4-3 and 3-2. The Missouri Baptist pitching staff surrendered just seven runs on the day, but timely hitting from the Scots gave the home team two narrow victories.
A walk-off single from Savannah Graham gave Lyon (24-18, 9-9) the 4-3 win in game one. Graham brought home Rayven Cannon who walked to lead off the inning and went around the bases via a sacrifice and wild pitch.
The Spartans (20-16, 7-5) jumped out to a 3-0 lead before Lyon completed the comeback. Sierra Thompson scored the game's first run thanks to a Lyon miscue in the field after Payton Anderson singled.
Anderson went 3-3 at the dish in game one and also batted a run home in the fourth inning. She doubled to score Chloe Jennings and put MBU up 3-0. Jennings reached on an error from the Scots left fielder that helped score the team's second run.
However, the Scots answered with three runs in the bottom half to tie things at 3-3. They scored three times on two hits and took advantage of one MBU error. Cannon had the big hit, a two-RBI double with two outs.
Despite surrendering the game-winning hit later on in the seventh, Andrea Chessor had another fantastic day in the circle. She allowed just one earned run and five hits in 6.2 innings, while striking out six. She also joined Anderson with three hits to her name in the contest. Meagan Elder also had a multi-hit game.
MBU fell behind 2-0 in the finale, but took advantage of a costly Lyon error to tie things up in the third inning. Sarah Strothkamp singled with one out and advanced to second when Jennings walked. Thompson's groundout advanced both runners and they both scored on a dropped fly ball from Cannon in right field to tie the game at 2-2.
The score remained tied until the fifth when the Scots came through with a run. Lexi Reyes reached on a fielder's choice with nobody out that brought home Graham, who singled to start the inning. MBU would once again out-hit Lyon (16-9 in two games), but couldn't bring anybody around to score in the final two innings.
Cierra Liddick performed very well on the mound again, allowing just two earned runs and four hits in six innings of work. The Spartans still haven't allowed more than four runs since March 15th, a span of 24 games. The team continues its roadtrip tomorrow against Central Baptist. First pitch is set for 12:00 pm.
