KANSAS CITY, Mo. – MBU Baseball (3-1) erupted offensively in an 18-12 win over (RV) Tabor (2-5) before falling 5-2 to (RV) Concordia-Nebraska (2-0) in the finale of the Rube Foster Classic on Tuesday night. The Spartans completed the first road trip of the season winning three of four, including two victories against teams either ranked or receiving votes in the NAIA Top 25 Coaches' Poll.
GAME ONE
After earning two wins on Monday, the Spartans picked up where they left off in the opener on Tuesday. The offense scored runs in five of the seven innings, highlighted by five in the fourth and seven in the fifth.
Leading 5-3 after three, the Spartans busted it open in the fourth.
Hunter Hill and
Kyle O'Brien delivered back-to-back home runs with one out. Two batters later
Carter Mize made it three for the inning when he connected on his first HR of the year. Later, after a bunt single and a base hit to left,
Noah Hemphill drove two in with a line drive past the second baseman into shallow right field. The six-hit, five-run frame made it 10-3.
The fifth was another long one for the Tabor pitching staff. And the Spartans didn't even need a hit until the sixth batter of the inning.
Luis Tajia,
DJ Schmidt, and
Treyton Steffler each contributed RBI singles. In his second at-bat of the inning,
Hunter Hill doubled off the wall in left to bring in
Noah Hemphill. Outside of that, two hit batters, four walks, an error, a wild pitch, and a balk added up to seven runs and a double-digit lead for Missouri Baptist.
Tabor didn't exactly go away though. They posted a crooked number of their own in the bottom half of the fifth to cut the deficit to 17-11. Ultimately though 2+ innings of solid relief work from
Josh Sieglitz preserved an 18-12 victory for the Spartans.
The Spartans finished with 20 hits led by a four-hit, three-RBI effort from
DJ Schmidt.
Adrian Gutierrez (3-4) and
Manny Garcia (2-4) each scored four runs apiece. Gutierrez,
Carter Mize,
Noah Hemphill, and
Luis Tajia each drove in three runs as well.
GAME TWO
After taking about four hours to complete the seven-inning victory over Tabor, the momentum did not quite carry over into the second game of the day against Concordia (Neb.).
The Spartans managed just three hits in the first four innings against Bulldogs' starter Trenton Wood. But after Wood departed, MBU showed signs of life. In the fifth, a double off the right field wall by
Kyle O'Brien scored both
DJ Schmidt and
Treyton Steffler.
That cut a 4-0 deficit in half but that was as close as the Spartans would get. Concordia tacked on an insurance run in the bottom of the inning and eventually held on to end the Mo. Bap winning streak at three games to start the season.
REACTION FROM COACH USCHOLD
"Tough second game of the day. Concordia's pitching was outstanding. It would have been nice to win all four but all in all a good start to the season for the Spartans."
WHAT'S NEXT
Weather permitting, the Spartans will host Baker (Kan.) (2-1) on Friday and Saturday for the first home series of the season. First pitch on Friday is scheduled for 2 pm but keep an eye on the schedule page as well as @mbu_baseball on twitter for all the latest updates.
