JOPLIN, Mo. – MBU Baseball (36-17) knocked off Central Baptist on Saturday afternoon before being eliminated by Columbia College in the AMC Postseason Tournament Final Three.
The Spartans were receiving votes (just outside the Top 25) in the final regular season Coaches' Poll and will be in strong consideration for an at large bid to the Opening Round of the NAIA World Series. The field of 45 Opening Round qualifiers will be announced next Thursday, May 9, at 4 pm on the NAIA Facebook page.
Missouri Baptist 6, Central Baptist 4
In the first game of the day, the Spartans fell behind early against CBC (27-27). A two-run homer in the first and an error in the second put the Mustangs out to a 3-0 advantage.
Jonathon Pasillas cut into the deficit with a two-run bomb of his own in the bottom of the second. That would be all the scoring until Pasillas came to the plate again in the sixth. After
DeShawn Lookout walked and
Mason Washington singled, the Long Beach, Calif. native took the first pitch he saw and deposited it into the bleachers in left field. The Spartans had their first lead of the day at 5-2. It was the first multi-HR game of Pasillas' career and also set a new career-high for the senior with five RBIs.
Mo. Bap starter
Josh Sieglitz pitched well after a rocky start and turned it over to
Hayden Crowe in the seventh inning. Crowe conceded an unearned run in 1 and 1/3 innings but maintained the lead.
Manny Pizarro then entered and earned a four-out save.
Missouri Baptist 4, Columbia 11
After the win, the Spartans turned right around and played another elimination game against Columbia. The Cougars had already dropped the winners' bracket final to Freed-Hardeman in the first game of the day.
With a spot in the World Series Opening Round on the line, Columbia came out firing. They scored three in the first and added another in the third. The Spartan defense helped out with two errors as well.
Mo. Bap would pull three back in the fourth. A double by
Domonique Hernandez plated two and a sac fly by
Michael McGhee made it 4-3.
On the pitching side,
Caleb Miley relieved starter
Gary Watkins and kept things within reach. Miley lasted five innings, allowing two earned runs while striking out five. Eventually though, the defense behind Miley would let him down.
With a 6-4 CC lead entering the bottom of the eighth, it was still anyone's game. But that's when the train went off the rails for the Spartans. Three Cougar hits combined with three Spartan errors led to a five-run inning and an 11-4 Columbia lead. Missouri Baptist would finish the game with six total miscues in the field.
Columbia closed it out in the ninth to earn their first ever berth in the World Series Opening Round. Prior to that, they'll meet Freed-Hardeman in the AMC Championship on Sunday at noon.
