ST. LOUIS—[GAME 1 BOX] [GAME 2 BOX] Strikeouts and stranded batters can kill any team, but both at the same time will almost always spell disaster. On Saturday, after a 7-4 win in the conclusion of Friday's second game, both became significant. Central Baptist (Ark.) posted two runs in the top of the 12th and picked-up their starter Ben Madison after a big performance, in a 4-3 win over the Spartans on Saturday.

Missouri Baptist (11-7, 4-2 AMC) finished off the second game from Friday in fine fashion, but dropped the series when the offense failed to get timely hitting. In Saturday's series finale, the Spartans struck-out 16 times and left 14 runners stranded in the 12-inning, four hour marathon.

After taking the second game of the series 7-4, Missouri Baptist posted a quick run in the first inning of the finale. Culver Plant singled and scored after a wild pitch and a throwing error got him home to make it 1-0 Spartans.

Central Baptist responded in the third. Monterio May led off with a single, and after a stolen base, a Santez Richardson RBI single sent him home to make it 1-1.

Percey Arnold led-off the following inning with a single and put further pressure on Spartan starter Pat Boyle. Arnold advanced to second on a wild pitch and crossed the plate four batters later on an Austin Kuchinski RBI single to give the visitors a 2-1 advantage.

Boyle was outstanding and shut the door at that point. The lefty went seven full innings and allowed just two runs on five hits and struck-out eight.

On the other end was Ben Madison, who tossed an absolute gem for the Mustangs. The hurler went seven and a third innings and struck-out 10. The sophomore allowed just four hits in his outing, but walked seven batters. He entered Saturday's game with just four walks in 23 innings in 2017.

Missouri Baptist tied the game in the eighth thanks to their patience at the plate. Madison allowed a single to Drew Kitson to lead-off the inning, which is where the wheels began to fall off after a tremendous start to that point. The righty then plunked Austin Rieman to put two on with no out before a walk to Chap Ramsey loaded the bases. John Hagan stepped to the plate a batter later and worked the count full before he walked and scored the game tying run. The Spartans, however, left the bases loaded and the game found its way to extras.

Nick Vichio and Anthony Cosme both had outstanding outings, but it was Nick Hynes who ran into trouble in the 12^th. After a quick out, a walk, a hit and a hit batsmen loaded the bases for Richardson. The first baseman hit a long single to left field, which scored two, and put the Spartans behind 4-2 heading to the bottom half.

Chad Ramsey was the recipient of a one-out walk, and after advancing to second on a wild pitch, John Hagan stepped to the plate and nearly tied the game with one swing. The senior tagged pitch to right field and came within feet of going over the wall, but stopped just short, scoring Ramsey, and made it 4-3 with the game tying run at second. That, however, was as close as the Spartans came.

It was a game that the Spartans will need to quickly forget as the team will head out on the road next week to Cumberland (Ky.) to take-on the Bulldogs.