JOPLIN, Mo. – (RV) Missouri Baptist Baseball (34-16) defeated Lindenwood-Belleville before falling to Columbia on Thursday at the AMC Postseason Baseball Tournament in Joplin, Mo. Columbia pitcher Chris Wall was nearly untouchable in the night cap. The junior maintained a no-hitter until
Caleb Dean broke it up with two outs in the ninth inning.
The Spartans will play (20) Lyon College in an elimination game on Friday at noon, pending the severity of more inclement weather that's expected to move through the area. Be sure to check amcsportsonline.com and follow @amcsports on twitter for all the latest schedule updates. The full bracket can be found at:
http://www.amcsportsonline.com/17/8/2019_AMC_BB
Missouri Baptist 9, Lindenwood-Belleville 7
The first round game between the Spartans and the Lynx was pushed back to Thursday after torrential rain affected the start times of Wednesday's games. Despite the 8:30 am first pitch, the MBU offense came out ready to hit.
The scoring began in the second with an RBI single by
Drew Brooks to score
Jonathon Pasillas. In the third,
Domonique Hernandez followed suit with a hit to bring in
DeShawn Lookout. They would add three in both the fourth and fifth innings.
Lookout was at the center of it all. In the fourth, the junior executed a perfect squeeze bunt to drive in
Hunter Hill. In the following frame, it was his single that scored
Michael McGhee and
Caleb Dean for an 8-1 advantage.
Josh Ray, the AMC's Newcomer Pitcher of the Year, made the start and cruised through the first five before a few speed bumps. Ray had allowed just one run on three hits before conceding a three-run homer to Drew Guido in the sixth. The lefty turned it over to
Hayden Crowe out of the bullpen after 6 and 2/3 innings. Crowe preserved a 9-7 lead to earn the save and send the Spartans into the winner's bracket.
The Mo. Bap offense finished with 19 hits led by a quad from
DeShawn Lookout. The Oklahoma native posted a 4-4 effort with three RBIs and a run scored.
Caleb Dean finished 3-5 while five other Spartans recorded multi-hit games.
Missouri Baptist 0, Columbia 7
The night cap was all about Columbia starter Chris Wall. The junior shut the Spartans down in a complete game, one-hit shutout. The no-hit watch was on all the way up until two-outs in the ninth inning.
Wall recorded a career-high 15 strikeouts and the Spartans didn't hit a ball out of the infield until
Hunter Hill flew out to deep left in the seventh inning. Finally, with two outs in the ninth,
Caleb Dean spoiled the party. His line drive up the middle eluded the dive of Columbia centerfielder Josh Miller. CC would finish it off one batter later with a groundout to end the game.
Other than Dean's single, MBU had just two other baserunners, one of which was erased on a double play. The Cougars, meanwhile, scored seven runs on 14 hits and were also aided by two Mo. Bap errors.
