ST. LOUIS—Two very different versions of Missouri Baptist Baseball (10-9, 3-3 AMC) showed up in a doubleheader against Hannibal-LaGrange (8-6, 2-4 AMC) on Saturday. After failing to produce offense in a 2-1 defeat in game one, the Spartans responded with a walkover 27-1 victory in the nightcap.
GAME ONE
Masen Palmier and Hannibal's Jorden Billings were locked in a pitcher's duel in the series opener. The Trojans took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first but the Spartans responded to tie it in the top of the second. After that, however, both offenses struggled to cash in.
On two separate occasions, MBU had runners in scoring position. But with two outs, neither instance led to any runs. The missed opportunities would eventually come back to bite the Spartans as Hannibal, with just their second and third hits of the game, grabbed a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the sixth.
The Spartans once again threatened, putting two on in the top of the seventh. But with two outs,
Kyle O'Brien's long fly ball to centerfield succumbed to the wind blowing in and stayed in the ballpark.
Palmier (2-2) produced one of his best performances of the season on the mound but took the hard luck loss. The senior allowed just three hits and two earned runs. He walked two and struck out eight, tying a season-high.
GAME TWO
The sense from Head Coach
Eddie Uschold heading into the day's second game was that the Spartans let one get away in the opener. His team would leave no doubt in game two.
The offense shifted into gear quickly with a pair of two-runs home runs in the top of the first. First it was O'Brien who connected for his fourth of the year to drive in
Manny Garcia. Two batters later,
Carter Mize's third of the year brought home
Adrian Gutierrez. And this was just the beginning of a long seven-innings for the Hannibal pitching staff.
After Trojans' starting pitcher Jaysen Mattingley (2.31 ERA coming into Saturday) walked the bases loaded with two outs in the top of the second, he was replaced by reliever Lucas Burress. Burress induced a routine fly ball from
Carter Mize that should have ended the inning. Instead, it bounced off the glove of HLG right fielder Caleb Scott. Three runs scored to make the score 7-1 and Mize ended up at second base. The Spartans were given a gift and they ran with it.
MBU went off for three runs in the fourth, six in the fifth, three in the sixth, and finally EIGHT more in the seventh to take a casual 26-run lead into the bottom of the seventh. Though Hannibal assisted with five errors, MBU still connected for 19 hits.
Eventually the entire Spartan bench was utilized but prior to that, the top performers of the day included
Carter Mize (3-4, 7 RBIs),
Manny Garcia (4 runs scored), and
Kyle O'Brien (3-3, 2 RBIs, 6 runs scored). Redshirt freshman
Garrett Darrah came up with his first career hit in the sixth-inning which happened to be a line-drive three-run homer over the right field fence. Darrah drove in one more with a double in the seventh inning.
When the dust finally settled, the Spartans received at least one hit, RBI, or run scored from all 17 players that received an at-bat.
On the pitching side, in what was most likely the least stressful start of his career,
Billy Heil (2-2) pitched five solid innings for Mo. Bap. He allowed one run on four hits with four strikeouts.
The four-game series will now conclude on Monday afternoon with another doubleheader. First pitch is scheduled for noon, pending a positive weather forecast in Hannibal.
