O'FALLON, Mo. – MBU Baseball (30-16) knocked off Lyon College (24-23) 9-6 on Thursday night to advance to the final day of the AMC Postseason Tournament. The Spartans fell short in a 9-4 battle against Columbia (35-9) earlier in the day so they'll need to win two against the Cougars on Friday to claim the AMC Championship.
VS. COLUMBIA (WINNER'S BRACKET)
The first game of the day on Thursday was a highly anticipated matchup between the top two seeds, with two of the AMC's best pitchers on the mound. Chris Wall, the conference Pitcher of the Year, got the ball for Columbia while
Matthew Hess, the conference Newcomer Pitcher of the Year, was called upon for Missouri Baptist.
Before both pitchers could get through the first inning however, Mother Nature interfered. An hour and a half lightning delay put a pause on the events. After the resumption of play, it was the Spartans who drew first blood. With the bases loaded and two outs,
Manny Garcia stung one up the middle for a base hit that scored two.
Columbia came back with three runs in the bottom of the third, though they needed just one hit to do it. After a two-out error by the Spartans brought a run home, Brad Prebay hit a line drive to left. With the wind blowing out at close to 20 mph, the ball continued to carry all the way into the outfield bleachers. The Cougars had their first lead at 3-2.
The back-and-forth continued in the next half inning. After Tommy Patrick led off with a single, the wind was once again a factor on the next batter, this time in favor of the Spartans.
Carter Mize's pop fly to center was misjudged in the air by CC outfielder Hayden Ludwig. Two hitters later,
Treyton Steffler cashed in with a two-RBI single to give Mo. Bap a 4-3 lead.
Columbia tied it in the sixth on another wind-aided home run to left field and then took the lead after a wild pitch in the seventh. Hess departed after seven having allowed just two earned runs on five hits. He struck out nine. Chris Wall lasted one inning longer than Hess but threw nearly 40 more pitches (134-95). The lefty allowed eight hits and two earned runs with eight strikeouts.
It was a one-run game with two outs in the bottom of the when Columbia finally delivered a dagger. Kendrick Delima's grand slam broke it open, giving the Cougars a comfortable 9-4 advantage. They would see it through in the ninth to advance to the Championship game.
VS. LYON (ELIMINATION GAME)
The loss meant the Spartans had to play an extra game in order to set up a rematch with Columbia on Friday. It would be Lyon standing in the way after the Scots defeated William Woods 15-8 in the second game of the day.
The Spartans jumped out to an early 5-1 lead after a four-run outburst in the bottom of the second. Mize, Steffler, and Garcia all contributed with RBIs.
Though the Scots were running on fumes playing in their fifth game in three days, they were not about to roll over. A two-RBI double by Joe Weatherford in the third and a solo home run by Cameron Hockle in the fourth made it a 5-4 game.
MBU starter
Billy Heil made it through six innings with the lead before giving the keys to
Jackson Keller. Lyon greeted Keller with two walks, a double, and a single adding up to two runs. That gave the Scots their first lead of the game at 6-5.
The Mo. Bap offense would respond in short order in the bottom of the seventh. After being stifled by soft-tossing Lyon reliever Thomas Fletcher for four innings, the Spartans finally solved the redshirt sophomore in the seventh though it took a bit of luck.
Fletcher retired the first two hitters of the inning with relative ease before inducing an infield pop up by
Hunter Hill. But first baseman Haydn Finley seemingly lost the ball in the lights and, by the time he found it, it was too late to recover. The error gave the Spartans life. Tommy Patrick followed with a single and then
Carter Mize laced a 1-1 pitch high into the night sky, off the light pole in right centerfield. Mize's eighth HR of the year gave MBU the lead back at 8-6.
Keller settled in on the mound and worked around a walk in the eighth. The Spartans added some insurance in the bottom of the inning via a line drive single off the right field wall by
Hayden Roney. The hit scored
Manny Garcia. Keller then set the Scots down in order in the ninth to secure the victory.
WHAT'S NEXT
The Spartans will face Columbia at noon on Friday. They will need to win that game to force a winner-take-all game. CarShield Field in O'Fallon, Mo. is open to the public but a live broadcast will also be available on
https://portal.stretchinternet.com/amc/.
Along with the title of AMC Champion, two wins on Friday would also secure the Spartans an automatic bid to the NAIA World Series Opening Round beginning May 17.
