SAINT LOUIS – The Missouri Baptist Spartans continued their power surge this season with five more home runs on Friday in an 18-7 victory over William Woods University.
Catcher
Jakob Kouneski continued his recent hot streak by hitting a pair of three-run homers to help pace the offense. The home runs were the fifth and sixth for the native of Minneapolis, Minn. in his past four games, having hit just one earlier in the year. He has 17 RBIs in that four-game stretch.
The Spartans scored at least two runs in every inning except the sixth in winning by "run rule" in the scheduled nine-inning game.
The MBU offense showed up early and often as they put five runs on the board in the bottom of the first inning, thanks to a 3-run homer by
Cole Robinson and a 2-run homer by
Jayden Orozco. In the second it was time for Kouneski's first bomb of the day. Coupled with a Robinson RBI sacrifice fly, they gave the Spartans a 9-0 lead after two innings.
The Owls achieved their first damage against Spartans' starter
Teague Robertson by stringing together four hits and a walk to start the third inning, resulting in four runs on the board. Despite Robertson retiring the next three batters in a row, the Spartans lead was cut to 9-4.
However, the Spartans answered back with four of their own in the bottom half of the inning.
Lucas Lefebvre singled and later scored on a passed ball.
Alex Adams hit his team leading sixteenth home run of the season, bringing home
Blane Besse and
Blayne Yarger to restore the nine-run lead.
After WWU got a run back in the top of the fourth, Besse tripled home two runs in the bottom of the inning for a 15-5 Spartan advantage.
Kouneski clouted his second three-run homer in the fifth, giving him six RBI in the game, for an 18-5 Spartan lead.
Robertson finished six innings for the win, his sixth against zero defeats. The Columbia, Mo. native gave up five runs on seven hits with two walks and six strikeouts.
Dillon Deneau made his season debut by pitching the seventh. He gave up two runs on one hit, with three walks, then struck out the last batter to seal the victory.
The five home runs hit by the Spartans gives them 71 on the season through 32 games. Friday was the fifth time this season the Spartans hit at least five home runs in a single game. Counting their win over Central Baptist College last Saturday, the Spartans have 11 home runs in their last two games. They have won 13 of their last 14 contests.
The Owls and Spartans will play two more games at Spartan Baseball Field on Saturday. The first game is scheduled to begin at 12:00 p.m.
