CONWAY, Ark. – After a near-flawless start and a 9-1 win in the opener on Friday, the wheels fell off midway through Game Two for Missouri Baptist Baseball. The struggles resulted in back-to-back losses to Central Baptist College – L, 7-8 (10 Inn.) and L, 2-12 (7 Inn.) – and the first AMC series loss of 2022 for the Spartans.
 
Sadly, road games against Central Baptist in Arkansas haven't been kind to the Spartans. Since CBC joined the American Midwest Conference in 2015, the Spartans have yet to take a series from the Mustangs in their neck of the woods. MBU owns a 3-1 series record against CBC at home on the other side of the equation.
 
MoBap (17-17, 10-5 AMC) still controls its destiny in the AMC race as Columbia, currently No. 1 in the league standings, comes to town next weekend.
 
Game One – Missouri Baptist 9, Central Baptist 1 (7 Inn.)
MBU's Matthew Hess and CBC's Andrew Killough were locked in a fierce pitcher's duel in the first three innings, allowing three combined hits. However, third baseman Austin Teal provided the Mustangs with an RBI double in the 2^nd and the first run of the game. This turned out to be CBC's only run and hit in the game.
 
The Spartans capitalized on a CBC two-out error that prolonged the fourth inning. Alex Adams smacked a two-run single with runners on the corners to score Carter Mize and Tommy Patrick Jr. and give MBU the 2-1 lead.
 
The top of the fifth is when the Spartans blew the doors off. Batting around, MoBap accounted for six runs on seven hits to increase the lead to 8-1. While the Spartans derailed CBC's strong start on the mound, Matthew Hess kept the train movin'. Following CBC's only hit in the second, Hess was masterful, retiring 13 straight and 15 of the final 16 Mustang batters.
 
Hess fired a complete game, one-hitter while striking out eight in the win.
 
Offensively, all nine Spartans registered a hit, and Alex Adams led the way with three hits and three RBI. Fellow infielders Carter Mize and Hayden Roney joined Adams with multi-hit games, each going 2-for-4.
 
Game Two – Central Baptist 8, Missouri Baptist 7 (10 Inn.)
The pitching momentum carried into Game Two as Masen Palmier went 7.0 innings yielding just one earned run on four hits. The reigning AMC Pitcher of the Week struck out eight and didn't walk a batter as he closed in on 100 pitches.
 
A 2 RBI double by Ashanti Ross kickstarted the Spartan offense in the second, and in the next at-bat, cleared the bases with a Blane Besse 3-run homer to put Missouri Baptist in front, 5-0.
 
CBC had a solo home run in the bottom of the fifth, but the Spartans answered in the next frame with a SAC fly to keep a five-run advantage.
 
Unfortunately, a five-run margin was not enough to hold off the Mustangs. The bullpen could not preserve Palmier's stellar performance as CBC evened the game at 6-all in one fell swoop in the bottom of the eighth.
 
MBU took back the lead in the ninth with PJ Brooks' single and heads-up baserunning. Brooks eventually scored on a CBC balk with the go-ahead run at third.
 
The Mustangs hit their third home run of the game in the ninth to force extra innings. After MBU failed to score with a runner in scoring position and one out, CBC closed the deal in the 10^th with a walk-off double.
 
Hutch Kettler and Blane Besse paced the Spartans with three and two hits, respectively.
 
Game Three – Central Baptist 12, Missouri Baptist 2 (7 Inn.)
In the rubber match, the script was flipped from Game One. All but one of CBC's starters recorded while Mustang pitcher Devon Koonce had a historic outing throwing a no-hitter against the Spartans.
 
Koonce wasn't perfect, walking three batters despite the no-hitter, including one in the top of the third. The walk, paired with two errors and two wild pitches, afforded the Spartans two runs in the inning to avoid the shutout.
 
Missouri Baptist used four arms in the loss, including starter Micah Diamond (2.2 IP), Jackson Keller (2.1 IP), Tanner Young (1.0 IP), and Aaron Jonas (0.2 IP).