FAYETTE, Mo. – The Missouri Baptist Spartans finished out their trip to Central Missouri University on Saturday with a couple of victories over highly-regarded opponents. The Spartans beat (RV) Oklahoma City University 4-3 in their first game of the day, then downed the No. 13-ranked Pioneers of MidAmerica Nazarene University 9-6 to finish the day.
GAME ONE: MBU 4, OCU 3
Spartans' hurler
Jackson Wells worked five strong innings after the MBU offense spotted him and early lead, as MoBap held on for a 4-3 victory.
Wells, a junior from Centralia, Mo., pitched five innings and allowed just a run on six hits while walking one and striking out five Stars batters.
Skout Rallo came on to pitch the final two innings for his third save of the season while allowing two runs on two hits.
The Spartans scored all four of their runs with two outs in the second inning. With one out
Jakob Kouneski singled through the left side of the infield then was lifted for
Tyler Hedtkamp as a pinch runner.
DJ Schmidt doubled to put runners on second and third. After Jaden Orozco popped out for the second out it looked like the rally might fizzle, but
Cesar Soto came through with a two-RBI single to put the Spartans on the board.
Blane Besse followed with a single to put two runners on base again. This time it was
Blayne Yarger's turn to drive in two with a double as the Spartans pushed the lead to 4-0 after two innings.
The Stars added a run in the fifth and two more in the sixth but the Spartans were able to close it out for the 4-3 victory.
Wells is now 2-1 on the season.
GAME TWO: MBU 9, MNU 6
The final game of the trip saw a familiar face return to the mound for his first start. NAIA Preseason All-American
Anthony Green took the ball to begin a game for the first time. Much like his predecessor in the first game, Green received some early run support from the offense.
It didn't take long for the offense to make its mark. Besse reached on a error, Yarger singled him to second, then back-to-back walks to
Alex Adams and
Cole Robinson pushed Besse across the plate for the first run just four batters into the game. Kouneski then hit a sacrifice fly to bring home Yarger to double the lead to 2-0.
Lucas Lefebvre then reached on a fielder's choice that brought in Adams for the third run.
The process virtually repeated itself in the third inning. This time it was Soto who started the inning by reaching on an error, then advancing to second on a Besse double. Yarger hit a sacrifice fly to bring home Soto for a 4-0 Spartan lead. Adams then reached on a fielder's choice as Besse was thrown out trying to score from third base. Robinson followed with a home run, his seventh of the season, to score Adams and give MoBap a 6-0 lead.
Green lasted until the top of third when he struck out the first batter then walked the next two before ending his day with a strikeout. He threw 43 pitches in two and two-thirds innings, with just one hit, two runs, and two walks while recording six of his eight outs via strikeout. It is the longest outing of the season for Green thus far. In the inning in which Green was removed, the Pioneers pushed their first two runs across as
Landon Albers allowed both inherited runners to score, but a third baserunner was thrown out at the plate to limit any further damage.
DJ Schmidt helped the Spartans get those runs right back in the bottom of the third. He singled to lead off, then stole second, then third. He scored on a fielder's choice by Soto. Later in the inning Yarger singled to bring Soto in with the eighth run for MBU, who enjoyed an 8-2 lead at the time.
The Pioneers made it close in the top of the fifth inning, which started with a walk, a single, a double, and a single to bring in two runs.
Sean Keene came on to pitch for the Spartans and induced a double play from the first batter he faced. However, he served up a two run homer to the next batter to close the gap to 8-6. After another hit, Keene got out of the inning with a groundout to Robinson at first base.
MBU got their ninth run in the bottom of the sixth when Schmidt reached on an error by the shortstop that scored Adams, making the final 9-6 in favor of MBU.
Keene was credited with the victory, his third of the season, all in relief.
Tony Caldwell was summoned from the bullpen to pitch the sixth and seventh innings to earn his first save of the season.
The Spartans finished the four games in Fayette, Mo. with a record of 3-1. They now stand at 10-4 on the season. MBU will open the home portion of their schedule Friday at Spartan Field when they host the Clay Pfieffer Memorial Tournament.
