BATESVILLE, Ark. – Winning their second AMC series in a row, the Missouri Baptist baseball team left Arkansas with two wins over a Lyon College team receiving votes in the latest NAIA Baseball Coaches' Top 25 Poll. Entering the final game on Saturday, MBU had outscored William Woods and Lyon, 41-8, over a four-game stretch.
 
The Spartans (11-12, 4-2 AMC) had their four-game game winning streak snapped in the series finale and now sit in a four-way tie for first place in the AMC standings with Columbia, William Woods, and Central Baptist.
 
Up next for the Spartans is a mid-week non-conference doubleheader at Baptist Bible College in Springfield, Mo. (March 30).
 
Game 1 – Missouri Baptist def. (RV) Lyon, 12-2 (8 Inn.)
The Spartans never trailed in the series opener. It got off to a quiet start with both teams scoring in the first, however, it was anything but quiet from the third inning on. Jordan Brandenburg plated his second RBI and the go-ahead run to score Cesar Soto for the second time in the game.
 
After MoBap extended its lead to three in the 4^th and again in the 7^th, the Spartans opened the floodgates. In the top of the 8^th, Lyon walked five Spartan batters, and yielded two doubles and a pair of 2-RBI singles. In bottom half of the inning, the Spartans escaped a bases loaded situation by turning their third double play of the game and ended the game an inning early with the 10-run mercy rule in effect.
 
MBU was quite efficient in Game One, totaling 12 runs, 12 hits, 11 RBIs and 11 walks with just one strikeout. Carter Mize and Blane Besse both recorded three hits apiece with the former finishing the game 3-for-3 with 3 RBI, 2 BB, and 1 R. Cesar Soto also had a perfect day at the plate (2-of-2, 4 R, 2 BB). Matthew Hess picked up the win giving up just one earned run in seven innings of work.
 
Game 2 – Missouri Baptist def. (RV) Lyon, 11-2 (7 Inn.)
Once again, Missouri Baptist opened the scoring in the top of the first and never trailed the Scots. Carter Mize connected on a 2-run home run to give the Spartans a 2-0 advantage and followed up with another 2-run blast in the third to put MBU up 4-1. The steady flow of offense forced an early exit for Lyon starting pitcher Clayton Burke (4.1 IP, 12 H, 8 ER).
 
Luckily for the Scots, Saturday's Noon game was the scheduled 7-inning contest, so the onslaught ended early. Seven of MBU's starting lineup recorded more 2+ hits in the game led by DJ Schmidt and Carter Mize with four and three, respectively.
 
On the mound, Micah Diamond struck out eight in 6.0 IP and moved to 4-2 on the year.
 
Game 3 – (RV) Lyon def. Missouri Baptist, 10-3 (9 Inn.)
The hot hitting cooled off and in large part due to who was on the mound for the Scots. Lyon's Alan West had the Spartans' number on Saturday striking out a career-high 15 batters.
 
Down one in the sixth (2-1), a dropped fly ball with two outs cost MBU a pair of runs and changed the course of the game.
 
Several Spartans' hitting streaks came to an end including Blane Besse's that was at nine games, Cesar Soto at seven, and Carter Mize and Manny Garcia at six. One Spartan who had relative success at the plate against West was Jordan Brandenburg. At the DH spot, Brandenburg went 2-for-3 with two runs and an RBI and extended his hitting streak to eight games.