OZARK, Mo. – The tenth-ranked Missouri Baptist Spartans traveled to southwestern Missouri on Friday to play Baptist Bible College and were met with mixed results. MBU took the first game 5-4 but dropped the second game 4-1 to the Patriots.
 
GAME ONE – MBU 5, BBC 4
The Spartans got all the offense they would need in the second and third innings and would make runs stand up, but just barely. MBU hurler Micah Diamond went 5 2/3 innings to get the win and reliever Skout Rallo came in to get the final four outs but twice faced a situation where the tying run was in scoring position.
 
MBU got on the board first in the top of the second inning when catcher Jakob Kouneski struck out but ended up on second base via a dropped third strike and an errant throw from the catcher to first base. Third baseman Noah Hemphill would chase him home with an RBI double. Hemphill would later score when Cesar Soto got caught in a rundown after singling. The Spartans led 2-0 after an inning and a half.
 
BBC would cut the lead in half in the bottom of the second with a walk and an RBI single. MBU would answer back, plus some, in the third. Back-to-back soft singles to the right side to start the inning by Alex Adams and Cole Robinson got the rally started. They both moved up on a wild pitch, then Adams scored on the third consecutive softly hit single, this one from Blayne Yarger. A walk to Kouneski would load the bases, then pinch runner Kevin Watkins came on to run form him. After Hemphill struck out, Tommy Patrick Jr. hit a sacrifice fly to score Robinson and move Yarger to third. Watkins then swiped second and the throw from the catcher made it's way through to center field, allowing Yarger to trot home with the third run of the inning and giving MBU a 5-1 lead.
 
That's all the offense Diamond and Rallo would need, although BBC made it interesting. The Patriots got single runs in the fifth and the sixth when Rallo was called upon to work out of a jam. A hit batsman, two singles and a sacrifice fly scored the run in the sixth, before Diamond struck out a batter and walked another. At that point Rallo came on with the bases loaded and two down, with the tying run on second base. He got the strikeout to end the rally.
 
A single, another hit batsman and an error scored another run in the bottom of the seventh, but Rallo slammed the door with another strikeout and a flyout to end it.
 
Diamond goes to 5-0 on the season as he went 5 2/3 innings giving up three runs on nine hits, while striking out four and walking two. Rallo gave up a run on a hit and struck out three in his 1/1/3 innings to earn his second save of the season.
 
GAME ONE – BBC 4, MBU 1
The Spartans couldn't solve Patriots starter Josh Buxton in the nightcap. He pitched a complete game, giving up just a single run on five hits, while walking three and striking out seven Spartans. He moved to 4-2 on the season.

MBU got just five singles in the game, one each from Blane Besse, Alex Adams, Cole Robinson, Blayne Yarger, and Noah Hemphill. Yarger had the only RBI, with that coming in the sixth inning to make the score 3-1 Patriots.
 
Tanner Young took the loss for MBU. He pitched five innings giving up four runs on five hits. He walked four and struck out six. The loss evens Young's record at 1-1 on the season. Austin Szverra made his first appearance of the season to pitch the sixth inning, surrendering a hit and striking out a batter.
 
The double-header split leaves the Spartans with a 15-3 record for the season. They will play two more against Baptist Bible College on Saturday starting at Noon.