ST. LOUIS—Missouri Baptist Baseball (27-14, 19-7 AMC) is still in the hunt for the regular season AMC title. The Spartans earned 8-5 and 13-3 victories over Harris-Stowe (11-20, 7-13 AMC) on Friday to move within a game of Columbia (31-9, 20-6 AMC) at the top of the conference.
GAME ONE
With the wind blowing out in the series opener, the Spartans jumped out to a first inning lead on the Hornets. After a leadoff double by
Treyton Steffler,
Kyle O'Brien launched a 1-0 pitch over the right field fence. It was O'Brien's 14
th HR of the year and 52
nd RBI but he was just getting started in what would be another huge offensive day for the junior.
Steffler's RBI single in the third inning made it 3-1 before the Hornets came back with two in the fourth and one in the fifth to take a 4-3 lead.
Manny Garcia led off the bottom of the fifth with a walk and advanced to third on a double by O'Brien. Harris-Stowe went to their bullpen with sidewinder Brian Myers and Myers nearly escaped the inning without a blemish. After two strikeouts,
Hunter Hill battled to a 2-2 count before poking a base hit up the middle. Both Garcia and O'Brien scored, and the Spartans had their lead back.
Steffler was involved again in sixth, this time to add some insurance. The Boise, Idaho native's 11
th home run of the season was a three-run shot to make it 8-4. Those runs turned out to be precious as Harris-Stowe loaded the bases in the top of the seventh. But
Josh Sieglitz, on in relief of starter
Masen Palmier, fled the inning with only one run across.
O'Brien would finish the opener 3-4 with three RBIs while Steffler produced a similar line except with four driven in.
Palmier received the no-decision after 4 and 1/3 with three earned runs allowed. Sieglitz completed the final 2.2 with just the one run conceded in the seventh to earn the win, improving his record to 6-2.
GAME TWO
The second game of the day was less stressful for the Spartans thanks to a five-run first and three-run second. The first six hitters reached base in the first. A two-RBI double by
Adrian Gutierrez was the highlight. In the second, a sac fly by
Donavon Murray and singles by
Kyle O'Brien and
Trent Shelby made it 8-0.
Things would cool off a bit until the fifth when
Tommy Patrick Jr. connected on a solo HR -- his eighth of the year. After the Hornets tagged MBU starter
Billy Heil for two runs in the sixth to make it 9-3, the Spartans finally sealed it up for good in the sixth and seventh.
A two-out double by O'Brien in the sixth got another rally started. Patrick and
Noah Hemphill would follow with run-scoring hits. That set the stage for the seventh where the Spartans had the run-rule in their sights.
Murray got it going with a leadoff single and, after
Manny Garcia was hit by a pitch, came around to score on yet another double by O'Brien.
Adrian Gutierrez followed with a walk-off single to end a 13-3 victory in seven innings.
The Spartans finished with 15 hits in game two, led once again by
Kyle O'Brien. After a four-hit effort in the second game of the day, the 6-4 third baseman finished the doubleheader a combined 7-9 with three doubles and five runs scored. He'll enter the final day of the regular season hitting .405.
WHAT'S NEXT
Mo. Bap will have to take care of business on Saturday and complete the sweep to have any chance of winning the AMC regular season title. They'll also need help from CBC (24-17, 10-12 AMC). The Mustangs must win at least one game in their doubleheader against first-place Columbia. The Spartans own the tiebreaker over Columbia if both teams finish with the same record.The AMC postseason tournament begins next Tuesday, May 3.
Saturday will also be senior day for the Spartans with a special presentation planned for after game one of the doubleheader.
