ST. LOUIS – The Missouri Baptist University Baseball team continued play in the Clay Pfeiffer Memorial Tournament with a win over Clarke University 6-4, before losing to Doane University for the second day in a row, this time 9-2.
 
GAME ONE: MBU 6, Clarke 4
Spartans' starter Jackson Wells put forth his best outing of the season as the Spartans took an early lead then had to come from behind to top the Pride 6-4 in seven innings.
 
Wells, a lefty from Centralia, Mo., lasted six innings and gave up eight hits but only three earned runs while striking out eight Pride batters. He gave up just a single run in the second and a three-run homer in the third for his only damage sustained.
 
Meanwhile, Spartans shortstop gave his team an early lead by picking up where he left off Friday night. After hitting a home run in his final at bat on Friday against Doane, he connected for his fourth home run of the season in his first at against Clark this morning to put the Spartans on top 1-0 after one inning.
 
After the Pride evened the score in the top of the second, Kyle Bermudez singled to score Cameron Roll in the second to regain the lead for MBU.
 
Following the three-run home run for the Pride in the top of the third to make the score 4-2, MBU got a run back in the bottom of the inning when Cole Robinson doubled to right center to bring home Blayne Yarger who had earlier doubled. The run cut the MBU deficit to 4-3.
 
The telling blow was delivered by Blane Besse in the bottom of the fourth. After the first two Spartans were retired, Bermudez was hit by a pitch and Cesar Soto singled up the middle. Besse came to the plate and blasted his fifth home run of the season to complete the comeback and edge the Spartans ahead 6-4.
 
Wells would work a scoreless fifth and sixth inning before turning the pitching duties over to Yarger for the save opportunity. While the junior from Rolla was far from perfect, walking two batters, he was able to close it out for his first save of the season. Wells got the win and is now 3-1 on the season.
 
Besse and Alex Adams both had two hits for the Spartans, with Besse accounting for three RBIs on his home run.
 
GAME TWO: Doane 9, MBU 2
The second game of the day and the second between Doane and MBU in as many days ended up featuring an outstanding starting pitching matchup. The Spartans sent Preseason All-American Anthony Green to the bump and Doane gave the ball to Kaden Crawford. Only one would be around to the end of the game though, narrowly missing out on a historic moment.
 
Doane loaded the bases in the first inning via three walks from Green, but the pitcher from St. Louis settled down enough to strike out two in the first inning without a allowing a run. At that point both Green and Crawford got locked in.
 
The first hit for either side was a two-run home run for the Tigers with two outs in the third inning. By that time Green had racked up seven punch outs, but it would signal the end of his day. Landon Albers came on in relief and didn't allow another run to cross the plate until the sixth inning.
 
On the early season, it is normally the Spartans with a penchant for explosive innings, but this time, for the second time in two days, it was Doane supplying the fireworks. They sent 10 men to the plate in the top of the sixth and seven of them came home to score, turning a tight game into a 9-0 romp.
 
When Crawford went through the Spartans 1-2-3 in sixth the stage was set. He went to mound for the seventh inning with MBU still showing a zero in the hit column. However, leadoff hitter Alex Adams was in no mood for history as he led off the inning with a solid line drive into right center field. Cole Robinson reached on an error and DJ Schmidt was plunked by a pitch as the tension was let out and Crawford started to show some chinks in his otherwise stellar armor. Joe Schmidt broke up the shutout with a sac fly to score Adams, then Cameron Roll singled home DJ Schmidt to make the game 9-2. Crawford them collected himself and recorded the final out of the game via strikeout, his eighth of the game.
 
The final statistics for Green were two and two-thirds innings, one hit, two runs, four walks, and seven strikeouts. Crawford went the distance on two hits and two runs, walking two to go along with his eight strikeouts.
 
MBU is now 11-7 on the season while Doane improves to 11-1. The two teams will play two more games against each other next Saturday in Kansas City.