ST. LOUIS—MBU Baseball (16-9, 9-3 AMC) extended its winning streak to a season-high seven games with another doubleheader sweep of Lyon (10-16, 5-7 AMC) on Saturday. In the first game of the day,
Matthew Hess pitched the ninth no-hitter in program history.
GAME ONE
The first game of the day was all about 6'7" senior pitcher
Matthew Hess who was in control from the start. In his first trip through the Lyon lineup, Hess racked up five strikeouts, two pop outs, and two ground outs.
Lyon didn't have its first baserunner until the second batter of the fifth inning. Hess worked around an infield error to escape without issue and then dodged trouble again in the sixth after hitting the leadoff batter.
While Hess was taking care of business on the mound, the MBU offense gave their starter plenty of support.
Noah Hemphill's RBI double in the second inning opened the scoring. In the fifth, it was Hemphill who came around to score on a
DJ Schmidt single.
Hunter Hill would also cross home on the hit. They would add one more in the sixth on a double by
Carter Mize to score
Kyle O'Brien.
With a comfortable 4-0 lead heading to the top of seventh, Hess put the finishing touches on a historic outing. He once again set the Scots' hitters down in order, capping it off with his eighth strikeout of the afternoon. He needed just 76 total pitches to record the first no-hitter by a Spartan since David Mullins tossed a perfect game on April 25, 2015.
GAME TWO
The nine-inning half of Saturday's doubleheader was much more of a rollercoaster. The Spartans took an early 4-1 lead in the second inning when
Treyton Steffler connected on a line drive three-run home run over the right field fence.
With the score 4-2 in the fourth,
Manny Garcia delivered an RBI single to extend the advantage by one. Garcia would continue to swing a hot bat, eventually finishing the night cap with three RBIs and a 4-5 line.
Looking to avoid a dreaded four-game sweep, Lyon was not about to go down quietly. They chipped away against MBU starter
Josh Sieglitz and eventually took an 8-6 lead in the eighth inning.
The Spartans would need a late rally and they got it in bottom of the eighth. Back-to-back walks from
Garrett Darrah and
DJ Schmidt to start the inning set the table. A sacrifice fly by Garcia made it a one-run game and a clutch two-out double by O'Brien tied it.
And there was still plenty of drama remaining. Both teams had chances to take the lead but both came up empty. MBU couldn't capitalize with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth and the Scots missed their opening with runners at first and second and one out in the 10
th.
The Spartans loaded the bases again in the bottom of the 10
th and this time they were not about to let the opportunity pass. A single by
Carter Mize put O'Brien, the winning run, at third base.
Hayden Roney grinded out a seven-pitch at bat and drew a game-ending walk that brought O'Brien across home plate.
REACTION FROM COACH USCHOLD
"We played 33 innings of baseball this weekend and other than the 7
th and 8
th innings of the fourth game, we played very good team, complimentary baseball. I'm proud of the guys. We found a way to win four games against a good team."
WHAT'S NEXT
After the Spartans (16-9, 9-3 AMC) travel to Canton, Mo. on Wednesday for a non-conference nine-inning game against Culver-Stockton, they'll head to (RV) Columbia for arguably the most important AMC series of the season. The Cougars (19-4, 10-2 AMC) and Spartans are one and two in the AMC with Mo. Bap sitting a game back. First pitch for Friday's doubleheader is scheduled for 2 pm.
