COLUMBIA, Mo. – Missouri Baptist Baseball split a doubleheader with Columbia on the road on Saturday. The Spartans earned the series win with a 17-3 thumping in game one but couldn't complete the sweep, falling 13-7 in the second game.
 
Missouri Baptist (17-10, 9-7 AMC) will now return home to begin a nine-game home stand next weekend. They'll faceoff with Central Baptist College in a Friday doubleheader beginning at noon.
 
Missouri Baptist 17, Columbia 3
 
After sneaking out of Friday's nine-inning contest with a 3-1 win, the Spartans stormed out of the gates in Saturday's seven-inning affair. Mason Washington, Michael McGhee, Anthony Enwiya, and Gabriel Castillo all contributed RBI singles in a five-run first inning.
 
They added four more in the second inning on run-scoring doubles by Drew Brooks and Sid Kumar. McGhee also added his second RBI of the game with a sacrifice fly. If it wasn't already out of reach at that point, the Spartans made sure of it with three runs in the fourth and five in the sixth.
 
When the dust settled, the MBU offense accounted for 17 runs on 20 hits. Both Sid Kumar and Domonique Hernandez homered and drove in three runs. Kumar's long ball was a solo shot while Hernandez tallied all of his RBIs with a three-run roundtripper in the sixth. In total, 10 different Spartans recorded at least one RBI.
 
On the mound, Austin Worrell had no issue completing the full seven innings. The redshirt freshman allowed eight hits and three runs while striking out nine. Worrell now sports a record of 3-1 and an ERA of 4.02.
 
Columbia 13, Missouri Baptist 7
 
Columbia managed a better offensive showing in game two and it was too much for the Spartans to overcome to earn the series sweep.
 
The Cougars scored first with three runs in the third inning against MBU starter Josh Sieglitz. Chase Urhann drove in two in with a single. Kenny Piper doubled with two outs to score Urhann.
 
It was 4-0 heading to the fifth when the MBU offense finally reemerged. After two quick outs and still looking for their first hit of the game against CC's Jacob Ford, the Spartans looked like they might go quietly once again. Ford thought he'd struck out Drew Brooks to retire the side but didn't get the third strike call. On the next pitch, Brooks laced a double into the right field corner and wound up at third base after a Columbia error.
 
It was at that point that Ford seemingly lost his composure and the inning began to spiral. After plunking DeShawn Lookout, a wild pitch to Mason Washington scored Brooks. Washington and Sid Kumar both drew walks to load the bases and Michael McGhee cleared the bases with a three-run double into the gap in left center. In the blink of an eye, the game was tied 4-4 and Ford was pulled for bullpen help.
 
Columbia didn't take long to pick up their starter, however. They regained the lead and then some with six runs in the bottom of the fifth. Home runs by Urhann and Jady Reese accounted for five of the six while a Spartan error aided in bringing the sixth across.
 
Mo. Bap attempted to keep pace after a three-run homer of their own in the following frame. DeShawn Lookout's third long ball of the year made it 10-7 but the Cougars delivered the final dagger with another three-run bomb in the bottom of the sixth.
 
The Spartans were efficient, offensively, if nothing else. They managed to score their seven runs on just four hits. Defensively, however, they did themselves no favors with four errors. Columbia (15-10, 10-6 AMC) tallied its 13 runs on 16 hits.