STERLINGTON, La. – In a reversal of recent fortune, the Missouri Baptist Spartans came up empty in two games on Friday, losing to MidAmerica Christian University 6-3 in the first game before failing to keep pace with high-powered and No. 2-ranked Georgia Gwinnett College, losing 15-8.
 
GAME ONE: MACU 6, MBU 3
The MACU Evangels took a lead then used the long ball to hold the Spartans at bay in a 6-3 victory, in MBU's first game of the day.
 
The contest was scoreless until the top of the third inning when a pair of doubles, an error and a groundout plated three runs against Spartans starter Jackson Wells. The Evangels led 3-0
 
In the bottom of the inning, Blane Besse earned a one-out walk, stole a base and came home to score on a Cole Robinson single to trim the deficit to two.
 
MACU would get some breathing room in the top of the sixth. After Spartans reliever Adrian Burciaga retired the first two batters he faced, the Evangels strung together a single followed by back-to-back home runs to extend the lead to 6-1.
 
Those runs would prove to be important as the Alex Adams and Robinson led off the bottom of the sixth with back-to-back home runs for the Spartans. But that is all the offense the Spartans could muster as they fell 6-3.
 
Robinson finished the game two for two with a walk and two RBIs. Despite taking the loss, Spartans starter Jackson Wells pitched well in his second start of the season, pitching five innings giving up two earned runs on three hits with two walks and six strikeouts.
 
 
 GAME TWO: Georgia Gwinnett 15, MBU 8
The second-ranked Georgia Gwinnett Grizzlies came out hitting and never really slowed down in the Spartans second game of the day. Spartans starter Tony Caldwell retired the first two batters of the game then gave up two doubles sandwiched around a single to give the visitors on the scoreboard an early 2-0 lead.
 
But the Spartans showed they were up for the fight…at least early. Like the Grizzlies, the first two batters were retired. Then consecutive singles by Alex Adams, Cole Robinson, Jakob Kouneski, and Lucas Lefebvre pushed a run across to cut the GGC lead to 2-1.
 
However, the second inning would see the Grizzlies send 11 men to the plate as they added six more runs to open a big lead after two innings. They would add another run in the top of the fourth for a 9-1 lead.
 
DJ Schmidt started the bottom of the fourth with a bunt single and later came home on an RBI single by Cameron Roll.
 
The Grizzlies would bat around again in the fifth as they added four more runs and enjoyed a 13-2 cushion. But the Spartans would answer with four of their own in the bottom of the inning as they started to find their feet a little bit. Big blows in the inning was an RBI single by DJ Schmidt and a two-RBI single by Blane Besse. The Spartans trailed 13-6 after five.
 
The Spartans got as close at 13-8 before the Grizzlies closed the scoring with two runs of their own in the top of the seventh to make the final score 15-8.
 
Tony Caldwell took the loss and is 0-1 on the season.
 
Despite the loss, the Spartans scored more runs on the Grizzlies than they had given up (6) in their first five games combined.
 
The Spartans went 2-2 at the 2024 Cajun Collision. They will be back in action on Friday at Baker University.