ST. LOUIS – [GAME 1 BOX] Missouri Baptist Baseball brought the big bats to Arkansas on Friday. The Spartans exploded for 16 runs in game one and got timely hitting in game two as they both defeated Williams Baptist (Ark.) in game one (16-3) and led in the second game (suspended due to darkness. in the first American Midwest Conference doubleheader of the season.

Missouri Baptist (8-5, 1-0 AMC) began Friday's doubleheader in fine form as staff ace Donnie Lovelady took the hill. The right-handed hurler posted his third win of the young season after a five-inning outing where he allowed just two runs on seven hits with five strikeouts.

As Lovelady continued to deal throughout the game, it was the bats in the middle of the order that reigned terror over the Eagles' pitching. Drew Kitson, John Hagan, Tommy Nawa and Chad Ramsey all went yard as runs continued to pile-up.

Missouri Baptist nearly put the game away in the first inning as Miles Fore led-off the game with a double. He came around to score on a passed ball and an error, which was the first of three runs to cross the plate. All nine batters in the Spartan order batted in the first.

The Spartans scored what ended as the winning run in the second thanks to Austin Rieman's RBI single with one out. With a comfortable 4-0 lead, Missouri Baptist posted two more in the fourth, and after Seth Hart's homerun in the bottom half, it was a 6-1 game heading into the fifth.

Missouri Baptist dropped a five-spot on the board in the fifth, four in the sixth and one more in the seventh on its way to its eighth win of the season. Rieman and Culver Plant both had much-needed breakout games with three hits a piece. Drew Kitson went 2-3 in the game and batted-in five runs on his own.

Game two was a different story through six innings, but a big seventh inning helped avert disaster.

Mike Syrett went to work on the mound in the second of the twin bill and kept his team in it throughout his six full innings of work. The Spartans grabbed the first lead of the game in the second inning. After Plant flied out, Fore and Ramsey followed with back-to-back singles to put runners at first and second with one away. Schlichtig's fly ball to deep right field advanced Ramsey to third and put the lead run 90 feet away with Kyle Keck headed to the plate.

The Spartan left fielder, who has been solid at the plate in 2017, singled to left-center on a 2-1 count and put the visitors up 1-0.

Williams Baptist responded in the fifth with one run to cut the lead 2-1 before taking the lead briefly in the sixth. Second baseman Cam Smith tripled home a run and scored on a wild pitch to give the Eagles a 3-2 lead.

The seventh inning, however, became a big one for the Spartans. Four wild pitches, two walks and a two-run homerun from Chad Ramsey gave Missouri Baptist a four-run inning and a critical 6-3 lead.

Robby Brewster held the Eagles scoreless in the bottom-half before the game was suspended due to darkness.

Game one will begin in the eighth inning on Saturday and game two will follow shortly after.

Note: The original recap of Friday's game indicated Brandon Schlichtig hit a home run in the game. Since the story was posted, a statistical error was corrected and has been corrected to reflect Tommy Nawa hit thie homerun. Nawa pinch hit in the seventh inning.