ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The Missouri Baptist Spartans Men's Wrestling team opened the home portion of their 2022-23 season with a Tri-Dual against Quincy University and Fontbonne University on Wednesday night. MBU fell to Quincy by a score of 39-9 but bounced back by getting the better of Fontbonne 34-23.
 
Quincy 39 vs. MBU 9
The evening started off in promising fashion for the Spartans, as Dillon Witt dominated Hunter Vernon of Quincy at 133 pounds by scoring an 11-0 major decision to get MBU on the board. ET Rodgers followed that up with a hard-fought 14-11 decision at 141 pounds over Carter Silva. With the Spartans forfeit at 125 pounds, the score stood 7-6 in favor of MBU.
 
From that point forward, Quincy would start to build a lead. The only remaining points for the Spartans came at 174 pounds with the Spartan debut of Clay Perry. He scored a 13-10 decision over Judah Yates of Quincy. The win was significant for a couple of reasons. It was the first in the MBU career for Perry, who is the 22^nd ranked wrestler in the NAIA in his weight class in the preseason rankings. Secondly the victory came over Yates, who was coming off a championship at the Maryville Open last weekend.
 
Quincy closed out the dual with falls in three consecutive matches to secure the victory.
 
MBU 34 vs Fontbonne 23
The second dual of the evening started much like the first for the Spartans, but the momentum lasted a while longer. MBU won the first five contested matches in building a 29-5 lead, then hung on at the end. ET Rodgers got his second victory of the night with 17-2 technical fall over Kody Krenz of Fontbonne to open the dual.
 
The next four contested matches were sandwiched around a Spartan forfeit at 157 pounds, but each of them resulted in a fall in favor of MBU.
 
Freshman Joel Campbell pinned Cameron Varner about a minute into the second period. Seeing his first action of the night, Trentin Helton followed that up by sticking Harry Rodriguez mid-way through the third. Not to be outdone, Camden Meeks got the pin against Connor Morin. The final fall in the sequence was Dominic Calvin, who got the better of Hassan Fofana in the first minute of the third period.
 
At that point the Spartans had a comfortable 29-5 lead. But Fontbonne fought back ferociously with two consecutive pins of their own and also took the forfeit at 125 pounds. The Spartans also lost a team point due to unsportsmanlike conduct by the bench, which made the score 28-23 Spartans heading into the final match of the night. If the Griffins could get the fall they would walk away with an amazing and razor-thin victory.
 
Dillon Witt would have none of that. It took him all of 1:12 to close the show as he pinned Daniel Bauer.

The Spartans earned a 34-23 victory in the dual. The victory is significant because it is the inaugural win in the tenure of first-year head coach Caleb McElfresh.
 
The Spartans are now 1-2 after Wednesday's duals. They are back in action this weekend when they head to Grimes, Iowa to compete in the very challenging Grand View Open. Grand View University is the top-ranked team in the NAIA preseason poll, and they boast No. 1-ranked wrestlers in the country in five of the 10 weight classes. The tournament will host wrestlers from between 45-50 top programs from around the Midwest and beyond.

The Spartans will then return home next Tuesday to host Westminster College at the Petty SRC. Even though it feels the season is just beginning, it is the last scheduled home dual of the season for the Spartans.