ST. LOUIS – [BOX SCORE] Missouri Baptist baseball collected 25 hits on their way to a 18-5 final over Hannibal-LaGrange. The win gave the Spartans their eight in a row.
 
Alex Hanft took the mound for the Spartans in their first meeting with the Trojans. After sweeping the Clay Pfeiffer Memorial tournament, Missouri Baptist had high aspirations to keep the winning streak alive.
 
Hanft and Trojan starter Jacob Bone kept the game scoreless through the first two innings.
 
In the top of the third, with two outs, Mason Washington hit a two-run home run that put MBU on the board first. The home run was Washington's second of the year.
 
The Trojans broke through on Hanft in the bottom half of the inning. Lane Thebeau scored on Seth Brown's single up the middle. The Spartans hung on to a 2-1 lead after three innings.
 
John Hagan also collected his second home run of the year in the top of the fourth inning. It was a two-run shot to left field that brought Jonathon Pasillas home from first base. The Trojans followed that with another run of their own in the bottom half.
 
After a scoreless fifth, the action picked back up in the fifth and sixth innings. Domonique Hernandez plated a run with a sacrifice fly in the top of the sixth inning.
 
The Spartans opened the floodgates in the seventh.
 
It started with Jonathon Pasillas' solo home run to left field on the first pitch of the at bat. Wayne Roberts singled and scored on Hagan's double to center field. Hernandez singled home another run, and Washington rounded out the scoring with a two RBI double. The huge seventh extended the MBU lead to eight runs.
 
Matt Huss took the mound for the Spartans in the bottom half of the inning, marking the end of Hanft's day. Hanft (6.0 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 4 SO) was in line to receive his first victory of the 2018 campaign.
 
A pair of singles to open the bottom of the seventh got Hannibal-LaGrange going. Brown hit one to left field where it was bobbled. He reached safely on the error as two runs came across to score. Huss got out of the jam by getting Todd Wilcoxon to fly out to centerfield.
 
Hagan kept his monster day at the plate going with a two-run home run in the eight, his second of the game, to put the Spartans up 12-4 after eight innings.
 
Caleb Dean struck out two Trojans in the eighth on his way to a scoreless inning.
 
The onslaught continued into the final frame as Missouri Baptist put up six more runs. The Trojans got one back in the bottom half of the ninth before Gary Watkins closed the door on them for good. The 18-5 Spartan victory pushed the winning streak to eight games, making the 0-6 start seem like a distant memory.

"Hanft was outstanding," noted Head Coach Eddie Uschold. "The offense took a little while to get going but once we got past their starter we were able to string some hits together." 
 
Mason Washington and John Hagan led the 18 run, 25 hit attack. Washington went 5-7 with six RBIs and Hagan went 4-4 with five RBIs, including two home runs.
 
Missouri Baptist baseball will look for their ninth victory in a row on Friday when they take on Freed-Hardeman at Spartan Field. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m.