ST. LOUIS – After suffering a setback to (RV) Columbia College in the series opener on Friday, the Missouri Baptist University baseball team bounced back in a big way with a pair of 10-2 victories Saturday on Senior Day to clinch the key AMC series.
 
MBU, which had lost seven of its last eight entering Saturday, snapped a five-game losing streak to improve to 19-20 overall and 12-6 in the AMC. Heading into the final regular-season weekend with a "road trip" down Highway 40 to Harris-Stowe State (16-20, 6-11 AMC), the Spartans are tied with William Woods for third but are just one game out of first place in the AMC, occupied by Columbia (33-9, 13-5 AMC) and Lyon (30-19, 13-5 AMC).
 
The Spartans have now won five out of their six contested AMC series and hold tiebreakers over all three of the league's top contenders – (RV) Columbia, (RV) Lyon, and William Woods.
 
Game One – (RV) Columbia 11, Missouri Baptist 5 (9 Inn.)
Game One was nine innings chock full of momentum swings. Columbia took the first stab and controlled much of the first three innings, jumping ahead 4-0. The Cougars extended the margin to five in the top of the 5^th before MBU got on the board. Cesar Soto drove home a run on a groundout to second in the bottom half of the inning.
 
After allowing four runs in the first three innings, RHP Matthew Hess settled in and finally got run support in the seventh with five hits and four runs, including a 2-RBI double down the left-field line for Jordan Brandenburg to tie the game at 5-all.
 
Once Hess left the game and turned it over to the bullpen, things came unhinged for MBU as it used five arms across the final two innings. The Cougars scored three in each to take Game One comfortably, 11-5.
 
Game Two – Missouri Baptist 10, (RV) Columbia 2 (7 Inn.)
After Friday's loss, Missouri Baptist needed a reset and got precisely that. Locked in a defensive battle early, Jordan Brandenburg broke a 0-0 deadlock with a solo homer in the bottom of the 4^th.
 
The floodgates opened slightly in the fifth with a two-out surge. Back-to-back RBI singles and a walk were the lead-up to another big Jordan Brandenburg hit in a 2-RBI double down the left-field line.
 
In the sixth, Columbia cut into the lead with a 2-run home run off Micah Diamond, but that was the only hiccup in Game Two. The Spartans blew open the game with five more runs in the sixth to take a 10-2 lead. Reliever Tanner Young spelled Diamond in the seventh with a quick 1-2-3 inning resulting in Diamond's sixth win this season.
 
Three Spartans registered multi-hit games, including Blane Besse (2-for-4, 2 R, 3 RBI), Tommy Patrick Jr. (2-for-3, 1 R, 1 RBI), and Jordan Brandenburg, who was a triple away from the cycle, going 3-for-3 (1 R, 3 RBI).
 
Game Three – Missouri Baptist 10, (RV) Columbia 2 (9 Inn.)
Masen Palmier was brilliant on the mound for the third AMC series in a row. The reigning AMC Pitcher of the Week went the distance in Game Three, and if not for a dropped fly ball in the second, Palmier would have had the first complete-game shutout of his career.
 
Down 2-1 in the second, an opportunity to take the lead back was ripe for the picking with bases loaded and no outs. But, unfortunately, the Spartans didn't capitalize, striking out twice and scoring just one on a Blane Besse sacrifice fly to tie the ballgame.
 
MoBap was back in the same position in the third but took full advantage the second time around. Tommy Patrick Jr. hit a base clearing double down the left-field line with three on to give the Spartans a 5-2 lead.
 
While Palmier continued to shut down the Cougars, his teammates provided ample run support with a 2-run HR from Carter Mize in the fourth, a 2-RBI single through the left side for Cesar Soto in the fifth, and a SAC fly for Jordan Brandenburg in the seventh.
 
Soto recorded his team-leading 12^th multi-hit game of the year and was joined by the same three from Game Two (Besse, Patrick Jr., & Brandenburg). The quartet combined for 17 hits in Saturday's doubleheader.