O'FALLON, Mo. – Missouri Baptist Baseball fell 14-4 to Columbia College in Friday's AMC Baseball Postseason Championship at CarShield Field in O'Fallon, Mo. The Cougars secured their first tournament title in program history and an automatic bid to the NAIA Opening Round. The Spartans' quest for their first tournament title since 2015 continues.
 
Needing to take back-to-back games over the Cougars to win the tournament, the Spartans took an early 2-1 lead in the top of the second. Tommy Patrick Jr.'s ninth home run of the season bounced off the roof of the visiting clubhouse in centerfield.
 
After Columbia tied it at two, Mo. Bap went back to work with two outs in the third. Noah Hemphill lined a pitch the other way to drive in Manny Garcia. But the offense would dry up for the Spartans from that point forward.
 
The Cougars retook the lead in the bottom of the inning and would not relinquish it. MBU would have plenty of chances but came up empty. The turning point of the day may have been in the top of sixth. After two doubles and a walk, the Spartans had the bases loaded with no one out. The Cougars went to their bullpen to replace starter Mark Haire and reliever Josiah Imhoff recorded a strikeout and a fly out to escape the inning.

The momentum had clearly swung in favor of Coumbia and the No. 1 seed rode the wave. With a bases loaded opportunity of their own, Brad Prebay came through with a bases-clearing hit into the right field corner. After bringing five across in the sixth, they added another four in the seventh. It was Prebay who delivered the game-ending single to complete a 14-4 final on the run-rule in seven innings. 

The Spartans finished with 11 hits to CC's 16. Noah Hemphill led the offense with a 4-4 game including a double. 

The Spartans will now wait for the reveal of the NAIA Opening Round field. The announcement will be made on May 13. If indeed this was the end of their season, Missouri Baptist finishes with a record of 30-17.