ST. LOUIS- [GAME ONE BOX] [GAME TWO BOX] No. 10 Missouri Baptist Baseball split a doubleheader with Lindenwood-Belleville on Friday afternoon at GCS Ballpark in Sauget, Ill. The Spartans dropped a tight 6-5 affair in the opener but responded with an 11-6 victory in game two. 

MBU fell behind early in game one and the lead bounced back and forth for the majority of the seven-inning contest. The Lynx drew first blood in the opening inning but the Spartans evened it up in the top of the third. After John Hagan was hit by a pitch, Tommy Nawa singled to bring Miles Fore to the plate. A ground ball to second was all it took as Lynx second baseman Alex Wittenauer bobbled it. Hagan scored on the play to tie it up.

The home side retook the lead in the bottom half but the Spartans once again tied it in the fourth. This time it was an RBI groundout from Chad Ramsey that did the job. John Hagan followed with a picture-perfect squeeze bunt to score Drew Kitson from third. That gave MBU a 3-2 lead before the Lynx leveled it again in the bottom of the fourth.

Missouri Baptist regained the advantage in the top of the fifth via a Culver Plant single that scored Miles Fore. Plant would finish game one 4-5 with an RBI and a run scored for the Spartans.

Lindenwood-Belleville responded with a three-spot in the bottom half to take a 6-4 lead. A solo homerun from John Hagan brought the Spartans within one in the sixth but that would be as close as the navy and white could get.

MBU got back on track in game two but for a short time, the outlook looked similar to game one. Lindenwood-Belleville held a 4-1 lead after three innings before the Spartan bats came alive in the fourth.

The Lynx had two opportunities to end the fourth but an error and a passed ball on a Justin Ortiz strikeout kept the inning alive. Brandon Schlichtig and Nate Green followed with singles and just like that MBU was back in it at 4-3.

The Spartans then broke it wide open with three in the fifth and four more in the sixth. Drew Kitson provided the fireworks in the fifth with a two-run shot. Kitson finished game two 2-5 with three RBI. Missouri Baptist batted around in the sixth despite registering just one single from 11 hitters.

The Lynx cut into the lead with a two-run eighth but Nick Vichio came on and finished the job with a scoreless inning and two-thirds of work.  The junior struck out three of the five hitters he faced to earn the save.

The win moved the tenth ranked Spartans to 34-12 on the season and 23-5 in AMC play. They'll conclude the series with the Lynx tomorrow at 11am.