COLUMBIA, Mo – Missouri Baptist Baseball received seven stellar innings from starter Josh Ray and two clean frames from the bullpen to sneak past Columbia (14-9, 9-5 AMC) 3-1 on Friday night. The Spartans improved to 8-6 in AMC play with the road victory.
 
Other than a minor hiccup in the second inning, Ray shut down a Cougar lineup that came into Friday leading the AMC in several offensive categories. He walked just two and struck out four in 7 and 1/3.
 
On the other side, Columbia starter Chris Wall matched Ray through the first six innings but the Spartan offense would finally strike in the seventh. Michael McGhee led off with a base hit and scored the go-ahead run on a two-out single by Caleb Dean.
 
After Ray conceded a walk in the eighth, Hayden Crowe entered with the runner on second and locked down any hopes of a Columbia rally.
 
With that, the momentum shifted to the MBU side and Anthony Enwiya lifted off on a lead-off homerun in the ninth to make it 3-1. Closer Manny Pizarro delivered a clean bottom half of the inning for his fourth save of the season. Ray was credited with the win to improve to 3-1.
 
Missouri Baptist (16-9) will now look to win the series on Saturday with a doubleheader. First pitch at the Cougar Baseball Field is scheduled for noon.