KINGSPORT, Tenn. – With the Missouri Baptist Spartans allowing an average of nine runs per game over their last four contests, MBU starting pitcher Tanner Young knew his team was looking to him to give them a chance to extend the season. The senior from Vinton, La. took the ball and delivered in a huge way, pitching his team to a 14-7 victory over No. 9 Webber International University (Fla.) in an elimination game of the NAIA Baseball Championship Tournament in Kingsport, Tenn. on Tuesday.
 
Young gave up singles in the first and second innings, then didn't allow another Warrior to reach via a hit until the sixth. In between, he walked only one and hit one batter, at one point retiring seven WIU batters in a row. His biggest mistake was a two-run home run in the sixth inning for the only runs he would surrender in his six innings pitched.
 
Meanwhile, the MBU offense came alive once again to back up their pitcher's strong effort, scoring three runs in the second inning and two more in the third to take control of the game.
 
Catcher Jakob Kouneski got the Spartans on the board first with an RBI double in the bottom of the second, scoring Cole Robinson who had earlier singled. DJ Schmidt reached on a error that scored pinch-runner Arturo Brito and Joe Schmidt, who had also singled earlier in the inning. That gave MBU a 3-0 lead.
 
Robinson was involved in the scoring again in the third when he blasted a majestic two-run homer to left with Alex Adams on base in front of him. The home run was the 13^th of the year for the sophomore. More importantly on this day, it gave his club a 5-0 cushion.
 
It would stay that way until the sixth when Young surrendered the two run home run to make the score 5-2.
 
But his Spartans teammates responded in a big way as they sent 10 batters to the plate and put six additional runs on the board in the bottom of the inning. It was a half-inning that had a little bit of everything that added up to a big number for MBU. The Spartans benefited from three walks, two singles, two doubles, an error, a sacrifice fly, and a wild pitch to score their six runs. Heading into the seventh inning MBU led 11-2.
 
Brady Stephen came on in relief of Young to start the seventh and gave up a run in an inning and a third before giving way to Skout Rallo, who pitched the final inning and two-thirds.
 
The Spartans tacked on three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning for good measure to lead 14-3 before things got a little sloppy in the ninth when Webber plated four runs. MBU prevailed 14-7.
 
Young is now 8-2 on the season after his six-inning performance today, allowing two runs on three hits with a walk and two strikeouts. Robinson finished three of four at the plate with two runs scored and four RBIs, giving him a team-leading 77 on the season. Alex Adams was three for five with an RBI and two runs scored. Blane Besse, Blayne Yarger, Joe Schmidt, Noah Hemphill and Jakob Kouneski all had two of the Spartans' 17 hits.
 
With the victory, MBU is 43-8 on the season. The Spartans are now 6-2 against teams in the top-20 in the country, and 2-0 against top-10 teams with this game joining a February 4 victory over then No. 6 Faulkner University (Ala.)
 
Next up is a rematch with Bryan College (Tenn.) who beat the Spartans 10-1 on Monday. Those two teams will meet at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday with the winner of that game taking on Indiana Wesleyan University at 2:00 p.m.  The Bryan/MBU winner would need to defeat IWU on Wednesday afternoon in order to force a winner-take-all game on Thursday morning.