HATTIESBURG, Miss. – It didn't take long for the Missouri Baptist University Baseball offense to get going in the 2024 season, and it helped them to win their season-opener over fourth-ranked William Carey University on Thursday in Mississippi. The Spartans benefited from two home runs in the first three innings and three in the game accounting for all five runs as they topped the Crusaders 5-3.
Just four batters into the season, the Spartans produced their first fireworks.
Blayne Yarger earned a one-out walk and was still there when
Cole Robinson stepped the plate as the clean-up hitter. And clean-up he did…launching a no-doubter to left field that everyone in the stadium knew was gone as soon as it hit the bat. An excited Robinson punctuated the feat with a prodigious bat flip on his way to first base as he pumped some energy into his team. Four batters into the season, Robinson had his first home run, and the Spartans had a 2-0 lead.
It stayed that way until the bottom of the second when Spartans' starter
Teague Robertson allowed four consecutive batters to reach, on a hit batsman, a walk and two singles. The Columbia, Mo.-native expertly worked out of additional damage by getting the next two batters on a foul out and a fly out to maintain a 2-1 MBU lead.
MBU tallied two more with the long ball in the third. Reigning AMC Player of the Year
Blane Besse singled to start the inning. One out later,
Alex Adams, having missed a home run by a couple of feet in the first inning, struck the ball a little more solidly this time for his first home run of the season and a 4-1 Spartans lead.
The Spartans kept the three-run lead until the bottom of the fifth when Robertson hit the leadoff batter then gave up a one out double to cut the lead to 4-2. That would spell the end of the night for Robertson, having pitched four and a third innings, giving up two runs on five hits while walking two and striking out four. Reliever
Brady Stephan would hit the first batter he faced to put the tying run on base but squashed the rally with back-to-back strikeouts.
It was Yarger's turn to muscle up in the top of the seventh with a home run of his own to make the score 5-2 for MBU.
After Stephan worked three innings, lefty closer
Skout Rallo was asked to come on in the eighth with runners on first and second and one out. He gave up an RBI single with two outs to close the book on Stephan's night then struck out the final batter of the eighth to preserve the 5-3 lead.
Rallo worked around a lead-off walk in the ninth to seal the victory and earn his first save of the season.
Robinson finished the game three for five from the plate with two RBIs and a run scored, courtesy of his home run.
The Spartans will be back on the diamond in Hattiesburg on Friday at Noon when they face Campbellsville University, then will play William Carey again around 2:30 p.m.
