ST. LOUIS – [GAME 1 BOX] [GAME 2 BOX] After a gutty effort in game one, the Spartan bats came back to life in the second half of Friday's doubleheader against Lyon (Ark.). Aaron Collazo and Austin Rieman both hit solo home runs to put the Spartans in the lead early in game two as Missouri Baptist grabbed the series win over the Scots 2-1 and 11-2.

Missouri Baptist (30-11, 21-5 AMC) took over first place in the American Midwest Conference  with the doubleheader sweep as two solid starting pitching efforts put the home team in the driver's seat.

Pat Boyle got the nod in game one and the senior grabbed his fifth win of the season. The southpaw tossed five and a third innings and allowed just one run on four hits with five strikeouts to his credit.

Robby Brewster provided two outs in relief, both strikeouts, before Nick Vichio finished things off in the seventh for his eighth save of the season.

The Scots went up in the top of the third thanks to a solo homerun from Kyle West, but the Spartans responded in the bottom-half. Lyon ace Tyler Tognarine allowed a walk and a single to lead-off the inning and put the Spartans in perfect position to grab the game's first and only lead.

Tognarine walked Drew Kitson to load the bases before Chad Ramsey provided the first RBI of the game for Missouri Baptist with a fielder's choice to second. With runners at the corners and just one out, John Hagan singled-in what held as the game winner.

In game two, a lead-off home run by Aaron Collazo set the tone early as the Spartans got to Scots' starter Reese Chovanec. Entering Friday's tilt, the Lyon starting pitcher had allowed just six earned runs all season. By the end of his outing, that number had nearly doubled.

Missouri Baptist recorded five earned runs on the Lyon freshman before he was pulled in the seventh.

The Spartans got to work in the seventh inning and dropped five on the Scots' bullpen, including another Grand Slam by Chad Ramsey. It was the slugger's ninth home run of the season.

Donnie Lovelady got the start and had a great outing. Though the senior allowed eight hits, only two runs crossed the plate. Nick Hynes recorded three strikeouts in two innings before Brett Mann finished the game in the ninth with a one, two, three inning.

With the wins, the Spartans not only moved to the top of the American Midwest Conference standings for the first time in 2017, but dropped the Scots into third as Columbia College moved into second overall with a 16-5 AMC record.

A win tomorrow for Missouri Baptist could be one of the biggest of the season as it would put its fate in its own hands for the regular season title with just one regular season conference series remaining.

Including Saturday's series finale, Missouri Baptist will play six of its final 10 games at Spartan Baseball Field.

Coverage of Saturday's game will be audio-only beginning with the pre-game at 11:45 a.m. The game can be found at www.spartandigitalnetwork.com