ST. LOUIS—Missouri Baptist (19-10, 11-7 AMC) swept both legs of a doubleheader with Central Baptist College (Ark.) (14-18, 7-9 AMC) on Monday afternoon at the Spartan Baseball Field. The Spartans received dominant starting pitching performances from
Austin Worrell in game one and
Josh Ray in game two.
Offense was difficult to come by for both teams on Monday afternoon as CBC's Justin Vincent and MBU's Worrell engaged in a pitcher's duel in the first game of the day. Worrell allowed just two hits in six innings but both of those occurred in the third inning and led to CBC's lone run. Jay French led off with a double and, after stealing third, came home on a ground out by Ryan Guyton.
The Spartans had moderate success against Vincent with four hits in the first three innings but couldn't cash in, leaving all four runners on.
Anthony Enwiya finally got to Vincent in the fourth. The senior took a 1-1 pitch and lined it over the left center field fence with two outs to tie the game.
Enwiya wasn't done either. With one out in the sixth,
Mason Washington doubled into the gap in right center.
Michael McGhee drew a one-out walk to bring Enwiya to the plate with a chance to put the Spartans on top for the first time. The Modesto, Calif. product came through with a base hit to center. Washington came across to make it 2-1 and that signaled the end of the day for Justin Vincent.
Manny Pizarro came on to close it out in the seventh but the Mustangs didn't go down easy. They had first and third with one out when a strikeout combined with a careless base running error ended the game in the blink of an eye. As Pizarro got Ryan Guyton to chase a third strike in the dirt. The runner at third, Michael Smith Jr., misread how wild the pitch really was and made a break for home. By the time Smith realized the ball hadn't skipped far enough away from
Anthony Enwiya behind the plate, it was too late. A run down ensued and Smith was tagged out to end the game. Worrell picked up the win to move to 4-1. Pizarro earned his fifth save.
Game two featured the day's second pitchers' duel, this time between CBC's Dillon Bonee and MBU's
Josh Ray. Through the first five innings, each offense had managed just one hit apiece.
The Spartans' drew first blood in the bottom of the sixth but they managed to do it without a hit.
Caleb Dean's chopper to third induced an errant throw to lead off the inning. As MBU's top stolen base threat, Dean had the attention of Bonee who checked on him at first several times. Finally, after six pickoff attempts, Bonee threw wildly down the line in right field. Dean moved all the way to third and later came home on a sacrifice fly by
DeShawn Lookout.
Ray continued to be in control on the mound and the offense gave him all the support he would need with four more runs in the seventh, all of which were scored with two outs. It was Enwiya who jumpstarted the rally once again. After the catcher singled,
Gabriel Castillo doubled off the wall in center to make it 2-0. The wheels then fell off for Bonee as he hit
General McArthur and conceded a three-run homer to
Caleb Dean for a 5-0 MBU advantage.
Ray gave up a run in the eighth but then motored through the Mustangs in order in the ninth to finish off the complete game. The junior recorded a new career-high 13 strikeouts with just four hits and one earned run allowed.
The Spartans will now go for the sweep on Tuesday afternoon. First pitch is scheduled for noon at the Spartan Baseball Field. It will be the third game of a nine-game home week for MBU. They'll meet Harris-Stowe for a doubleheader on Wednesday followed by a four-game series on Friday and Saturday with College of the Ozarks.
