O'FALLON, Mo. – The tenth-ranked Missouri Baptist Spartans baseball team solidified their standing in the NAIA Coaches' Poll by taking both ends of a doubleheader from No. 17 Georgetown College in a couple of games played at Carshield Field in O'Fallon, Mo. on Tuesday. MBU took the first game 6-4 and then shutout the Tigers 4-0 in the second game.
 
GAME ONE – MBU 6, GC 4
The Spartans bats came out strong as they put up five first inning runs then made that lead stand up. However, the game was not without drama as the Tigers had the game typing run in scoring position on multiple occasions but were unable to get the hit that would put them over the top.
 
The big first inning started innocently for MBU as the first two batters were retired before the third man in the order, Alex Adams, came to the plate. The next seven Spartans batters would reach base. Adams singled and moved to second when Cole Robinson was hit by a pitch. Back-to-back walks to Blayne Yarger and Joe Schmidt would force Adams home with the first run of the game. Despite entering the game with a .167 average on the season, junior Sage McMinn would deliver what would end up as the biggest hit of the game. His double to left-center field cleared the bases, giving him three RBI and the Spartans had a 4-0 lead. Noah Hemphill followed with a double of his own, chasing home McMinn with the fifth run in the opening inning.
 
Loose defense by MBU cost them in the top of the third. The leadoff hitter would reach on a two-base error, advance to third on a balk, then score on a single. An errant infield throw allowed that runner to advance to second and the Tigers had another man in scoring position with only one out. Another Tigers single advanced runners to first and third. The next batter fouled out to first baseman Robinson but the runner from third was able to tag and score while the trailing runner tagged up and successfully navigated his way to second base. The Tigers had scratched out two unearned runs to cut the Spartan lead to 5-2 after two and a half innings.
 
In the bottom of the fifth, Adams would single and score ahead of a DJ Schmidt double play grounder to give the Spartans an all-important insurance run, making it 6-3.
 
The Tigers would strike right back in the top of the sixth when Max Flock drove a Brady Stephan pitch over the right field fence to get the Tigers even closer. The next man up would single which was then followed by a walk and the tying run had reached base with only one out. No worry however, as Stephen would record a strikeout then coax the next batter into a flyout to left.
 
Georgetown would threaten again in their final at-bat in the top of the seventh. Payton Rios led off with a double, followed by a lineout to short. Hank Schineller would single and once again the tying run had reached base with only one out. Stephen got the next batter to pop out to second and there were two on with two out. Stephan was then lifted for reliever Landon Albers. The freshman from Breese, Ill. quickly got two strikes on his first batter before giving up an RBI single cutting the lead to 6-4. Albers then committed a balk to move the runners to second and third with two outs. He would work the next batter to the full count before issuing a walk to load the bases. Finally, on the third instance of having the Tigers down to their final strike, Albers blew a pitch by Josiah Zamora to seal the victory.
 
Starter Anthony Green got the win by pitching four innings, giving up two unearned runs on three hits with two walks and six strikeouts. He is now 5-0 on the season. Albers was credited with his first save of his collegiate career.
 
Adams was two for three with two runs scored and McMinn had just one hit, but three RBIs and a run scored.
 
GAME TWO – MBU 4, GC 0
Head Coach Eddie Uschold reached deep into the depths of his bullpen to string together a three-hit shutout in the second game.
 
Making his first appearance of the season, starter Greg Ryun went three strong innings giving up just two hits, striking out one and walking no one.  Ryun gave way to another hurler making his season debut in Adrian Clark. The senior from Minneapolis pitched a scoreless fourth with his only baserunner being a one-out walk. Then it was Brian Higdon's turn. While Higdon had appeared in one game previously he had thrown a total of one inning. This time the junior righthander was asked to go three innings, and he did it splendidly. The O'Fallon, Mo. native gave up a single hit while walking one and striking out another. The biggest trouble Higdon experienced was a result of hitting two batters in the top of the seven before closing out the Tigers. It was by every definition a bullpen game for the Spartans, but Higdon was credited with his first win of the season in the 4-0 victory.
 
Offensively the Spartans scored most of their runs by playing small ball. Blane Yarger singled to start the second then one out later came home to score on a Tommy Patrick Jr. sacrifice fly to put the Spartans up 1-0.
 
MBU got two more runs in the bottom of the third, when Arturo Brito led off with a single, followed by a walk to Blane Besse. DJ Schmidt moved the runners up with a perfectly executed sacrifice bunt. Seemingly tempting fate, Georgetown elected to give Alex Adams an intentional pass to pitch to cleanup hitter Cole Robinson with the bases loaded and one out. The strategy backfired when Robinson was clipped on the left arm by a pitch, forcing home Brito from third and moving Besse to third. Yarger plated Besse with yet another Spartans sacrifice fly to make it 3-0 MBU.
 
Noah Hemphill drove home the final run in the bottom of the sixth inning by grounding into a bases loaded double play, bringing home pinch-runner Kevin Watkins.
 
While Spartans pitchers gave up just three hits, MBU bats managed only five, but turned that into four runs and a double-header sweep over the No. 17 team in the country.
 
The Spartans are now 18-3 on the season. This was the final scheduled game before MBU enters American Midwest Conference play with a trip to Columbia College. Weather permitting the Spartans and Cougars will play a single game on Friday and a doubleheader on Saturday.