ST. LOUIS – Freshman attackman Joe Busselman recorded his first career hat trick and had a team-best four goals to lead Missouri Baptist Men's Lacrosse to a 13-2 victory over Clarke University. It was the fourth straight win for the Spartans, who improved to 4-3 overall and 4-1 in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference.
 
MoBap currently sits in fourth place in the league standings behind No. 3-ranked Columbia, (RV) Benedictine, and No. 5-ranked St. Ambrose. In the past four games, the Spartans have outscored their KCAC opponents, 52-26.
 
Eager to resume play for the first time since March 20, Missouri Baptist wasted little time getting on the scoreboard. Joe Busselman put the Spartans up 1-0 just 38 seconds into the contest. Additional goals scored by Alex Scott and Ian Olenski led to a 3-0 Spartan advantage after the first period.
 
Back-to-back goals by Luke Slagle and Busselman, both assisted by Noah Campbell, extended MBU's lead to 5-0. Alex Scott found the back of the net for the second time with just under two minutes remaining.
 
The Spartans stretched the lead to eight early in the third period before Clarke ended the shutout bid. Ending a 37-minute drought, CU's Micah Sundman finally snuck one past MBU starting goalie Hunter Filla, who had five saves on the day and got the win in goal.
 
The Pride scored just one more time in the game, coming at the 1:05 mark of the third period. Tuesday night's win marked the fewest goals allowed by MBU since a 21-0 shutout of Lindenwood-Belleville in 2019. The defense continuously created problems for the Pride, who had 21 turnovers, eight of which were forced by the Spartans.
 
Offensively, senior Alex Scott and junior Ian Olenski joined Joe Busselman with hat tricks of their own. The Spartan attack's unselfish play was highlighted by 11 assists on 13 goals scored. Among those dishing out the assists most frequently were Noah Campbell, Andrew Spillars, Noah Boone, and Luke Slagle, who contributed two apiece.
 
Freshman Connor Hickman was a steady force as the Spartans' primary faceoff specialist, winning 15 out of 17 faceoffs taken.
 
(RV) Missouri Baptist returns to action on Friday and Saturday with pair of tough road tests in No. 9 Ottawa (Kan.) (5-4, 5-3 KCAC) on Friday at 1 p.m., followed by (RV) Benedictine (6-2, 6-1 KCAC) on Saturday at 2 p.m.