O'FALLON, Mo. – A pair of dominant pitching performances and one breakout offensive inning led (RV) Missouri Baptist Baseball to two more wins over Park University (Mo.) on Thursday afternoon. Game one finished 3-2 while the second game of the day ended in an 11-2 rout.
 
Park jumped out to an early lead in game one on MBU starter Austin Worrell. But after conceding a two-run homer to the day's second batter, Worrell settled in kept the Pirates off the board.
 
The offense picked up their starter in the bottom of the second. General McArthur delivered an RBI single and Michael McGhee came across two batters later on a wild pitch.
 
The game would stay tied until the fifth when an odd sequence of events played into the Spartans' favor. With Mason Washington at the plate and the count full, Park pitcher Jackson Longhofer put his hand to his mouth while standing on the rubber. The umpire called an automatic ball and awarded Washington first base on a walk. Caleb Dean then stepped in and, on the first pitch, rifled a line drive off the wall in right field. Washington came all the way around to score the go-ahead run as Dean slid into third base.
 
Worrell's day was complete after five innings and Matt Huss entered looking to shut it down. The senior did just that and more. Huss struck out six of the seven batters he faced to earn the two-inning save.
 
In game two, Josh Ray took the mound and turned in his second consecutive solid outing. The lefty delivered seven innings with just three hits and two runs (one earned) allowed. Ray walked one and struck out 11 of the 25 batters he faced to earn the win.
 
The Spartans were briefly behind heading to the fourth inning before Sid Kumar put a charge into the first pitch he saw. The senior launched a three-run blast into orbit beyond the left centerfield fence to make it 3-2.
 
Mo. Bap would break it open a few frames later in the seventh. Seven Spartan hits combined with three Park errors led to an eight-run inning and an 11-2 MBU lead. Doubles from General McArthur and Michael McGhee and singles from Washington and Kumar drove in five of the eight runs. The Pirates made a combined nine errors in Thursday's doubleheader, including seven misplays in game two.
 
Jacob Rucker and Hayden Crowe combined to close out the final two innings. The Spartans improved to 13-5 overall and 5-3 in the AMC. Park fell to 6-4 (1-4 AMC). Missouri Baptist will go for the sweep on Friday at 11 am. Josh Sieglitz will take the mound for the Spartans.