SAINT LOUIS – The Missouri Baptist Men's Wrestling had a big day on Saturday, securing two wins in the MBU Duals, topping Trinidad State Junior College 33-13 and Westminster College 31-23.
 
MBU 33, Trinidad State 13
The Spartans got the afternoon off to a rousing start as they claimed victory in each of the first three matches, with two coming by fall. Junior Dillon Witt got a close 2-0 victory over Cameron Moore of TSJC at 133 pounds. Sophomore Daryl Mills and junior ET Rodgers then followed with convincing first and second rounds falls, respectively. Sophomore Joel Campbell suffered the first setback of the day in dropping a 5-2 decision to TSJC's Sebastian Freeman at 157. After a forfeit win at 165 the Spartans had a commanding 21-3 lead through the first five matches. The Trojans would not go quietly though as they scored a major decision at 174. Freshman Blake Johnson and sophomore Logan Neumann got the ship righted with a tech fall at 184 and a decision at 197. At that moment the Spartans had an insurmountable 29-7 lead. Freshman Spencer Fleming won by major decision at 285 before the Trojans got a win by fall at 125, making the final score 33-13 in favor of MBU.
 
MBU 31, Westminster 23
The second dual of the day went down to the final match. The 10 matches were also much more definitive, including five combined falls and three technical falls. Mills went to the mat first for the Spartans scored a 21-5 tech fall early in the third period, then Rodgers followed with a tech fall of his own in the second period to make the score 10-0 Spartans after two matches. Westminster's Michael Roberts scored the first fall of the dual with a pin of Campbell at 157 pounds. Junior Tony Connor then returned the favor with a 1:54 pin of JT Roberts, to make it 16-6 for MoBap. However, the Bluejays would win the next two matches by fall and tech fall to take their first lead of the dual, 17-16. Neumann got a forfeit win at 197 to swing the lead back in favor of the Spartans, but the Bluejays got a :29 second quick-pin at 285 to make the score 23-22 Westminster as the teams headed back to 125 and 133 for the final two matches. At 125, freshman John Davis trailed 9-5 after the first period and 11-8 after two before outscoring his opponent 6-1 in the final period to gain the 14-12 decision and get the lead back for MBU at 25-23. The battle at 125 was clearly the match of the dual, with Davis keeping his team's chances alive. Still the dual result hung in the balance with the final match at 133 to decide the victor. Fortunately for the Spartans, they were able to send out Witt who is the No. 11-ranked wrestler in the NAIA at 133 pounds. It didn't really take all that long either as he was able to win by fall over Westminster's Isaac Gawronski in just under two minutes to secure the dual victory 31-23 over Westminster.
 
Individually, Witt, Mills, Rodgers, Connor, and Neumann all finished the day 2-0.
 
Next up for the Spartans is a trip across the state to Kansas City for the Avila Duals next Saturday. MBU is matched up with nationally-ranked Missouri Valley College as well as two others receiving votes, plus Indian Hills Community College which is also in the Top-15 of the NJCAA rankings.