CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – Missouri Baptist Baseball (25-12) seemed well on its way to sweeping two games from Mount Mercy (17-18) on Tuesday afternoon before the Mustangs rallied late to earn the split. The Spartans won game one 2-1 and dropped the second game 5-4 on a walkoff hit.
MBU returns to conference play on Friday with a trip to Williams Baptist. With nine games left on the AMC schedule, the Spartans sit in third place with a conference record of 13-8.
Missouri Baptist 2, Mount Mercy 1 (7 Inn.)
Josh Sieglitz made the start in game one for MBU and was in control for six shutout innings. The junior allowed five hits and struck out six. The Mustangs' only real threat came in the third inning. Back to back singles to start the frame had a runner at third but Sieglitz induced a strikeout and a groundout to work out of the jam.
Offensively, the Spartans had an almost equally tough time against the Mustangs' bullpen-by-committee approach. After taking a 1-0 lead on a wild pitch in the first, MBU's only other run came across in the third via an RBI double by
Domonique Hernandez. Hernandez (3-4) and
Caleb Dean (3-4) accounted for six of Mo. Bap's nine hits.
Manny Pizarro came on to close out the seventh and, despite allowing a hit and two walks, the hard-throwing righty retired the last two hitters on groundouts to earn his AMC-leading seventh save. Sieglitz improved to 4-4 with the win.
Missouri Baptist 4, Mount Mercy 5 (9 Inn.)
The Spartans fell behind 1-0 in the first frame of game two but responded in the second inning. In his first at bat since February 22,
Jonathon Pasillas doubled into the gap in left center to score two.
After Mount Mercy tied the game in the bottom of the fifth, Missouri Baptist again reestablished the lead in the following frame. This time it was
Anthony Enwiya's fifth home run of the year that made it 4-2.
But the Mustangs would slowly take control from that point forward. One run in each of of the sixth and seventh innings tied the game. In the ninth,
Hayden Crowe retired the lead-off man but then conceded a base hit to Austin Hilpipre. The next man up, MMU's Evan Jackson, laced a line drive that found fair territory in the right field corner. Hilpipire raced all the way around from first to score the winning run.
Caleb Miley made the start for MBU in game two and pitched well for 4 and 1/3 innings. Miley surrendered two runs on five hits.
Jacob Rucker and
Matt Huss provided the relief out of the bullpen before handing off to Crowe for the final 2 and 1/3.
The Spartans managed just four hits in game two as Mount Mercy again used a committee approach from their pitching staff. The defeat snapped a six-game winning streak for MBU.
