O'FALLON, Mo. – The Missouri Baptist Spartans swept through their first two opponents at the AMC Baseball Championship Tournament on Tuesday and Wednesday and now sit one game away from the tournament title.
 
TUESDAY APRIL 30 – GAME ONE: MBU 12, WBU 2
If there ever was a proven formula for winning postseason baseball, the Spartans may have followed it perfectly in their first game of the tournament Tuesday against Williams Baptist University (Ark.). The top-seeded Spartans jumped on the fifth-seeded Eagles for eight runs in the first three innings and cruised to a 12-2 win in eight innings.
 
MBU got on the board with four runs in the bottom of the first inning aided by four hits and two walks. After the first three batters had reached, first baseman Cole Robinson got the Spartans on the board with a sacrifice fly, scoring Blane Besse. Three batters later Jayden Orozco singled home two to make the lead 3-0. Finally, designated hitter Lucas Lefebvre singled home the final run of the frame.
 
Robinson provided two more runs in the second by launching a long home run to left field, once again chasing home Besse to make the score 6-0 MBU. It was then Lefebvre's chance to muscle up in the third, as he connected for his first home run of the season, a two-run blast, making it 8-0.
 
After hitting a batter then giving up back-to-back singles in the top of the first inning, Spartans starting pitcher Landon Albers locked in to face just two over the minimum until the start of the sixth inning. It was then that a walk and couple of singles plated the first run of the day for the Eagles to cut the Spartan lead to 8-1. The Spartans got that run right back in the bottom of the inning via a bases load walk to Jakob Kouneski. After Albers gave up a solo home run in the top of the seventh, Cesar Soto scored on a wild pitch followed by an RBI single by Blayne Yarger that scored Besse. The Spartans enjoyed an 11-2 cushion after seven innings.
 
The contest remained that way until the bottom of the eighth until Spartans' right fielder Cameron Roll led off the inning by reaching second a two-base error by the Eagles' first baseman. Roll would come around to score on a Lefebvre single to left field to give the Spartans a 12-2 victory via the "mercy rule" after eight innings.
 
Albers got the win with his seven strong innings which included two runs on seven hits with a walk and four strikeouts. Righthander Sean Keene pitched a scoreless eighth inning with one hit and two strikeouts.
 
 
 
WEDNESDAY, MAY 1 – GAME TWO: MBU 4, CBC 3
Unlike Tuesday's game, the second game for the Spartans involved a lot more intrigue. In fact, the Spartans trailed by two runs on a couple of occasions before taking their only lead for good in the sixth inning.
 
The Mustangs put some early damage on Spartans' starter Teague Robertson in the second inning when they put together three hits and a hit batter to chase two runs across the plate. MBU cut the lead in half in the bottom of the third inning when Blane Besse led off with a single then scored on an Alex Adams double. However, the Mustangs immediately got that run back in the top of the fourth when a runner who reached on an error later scored on a sacrifice fly. The Mustangs had regained their two-run lead.
 
The two run Mustangs lead disappeared as quickly as an Alex Adams home run ball over the left-center field wall in the bottom of the fifth. With one out Blayne Yarger singled, then was able to trot home in front of Adams, who now has 21 round-trippers to his credit on the year. That's good for second best on the team behind Yarger. The Spartans had fully closed the second two-run deficit they faced as the game was tied at three after five innings.
 
A pair of doubles, one by Cameron Roll followed by Lucas Lefebvre, to begin the sixth inning gave MoBap the only lead they would need, making the score 4-3, which would be the final score.
 
Robertson lasted six innings and gave up just two earned runs to for the victory, making him 9-0 on the year. Reliever Greg Ryun pitched two scoreless innings before Skout Rallo slammed the door on the Mustangs, earning his fifth save of the season.
 
The Spartans offense produced 13 hits, with five batters having two hits. MBU might have been able to dole out more damage if not for two double plays turned against them. Alex Adams was two for four at the plate with a run scored and three of the Spartans' four RBI, including his home run.
 
MBU is 38-9-1 on the year and at 2-0 now the only undefeated team in the AMC Baseball Championship Tournament. Wednesday saw three AMC foes eliminated from the tournament: Hannibal-LaGrange University (Mo.), William Woods University (Mo.), and Columbia College (Mo.). Williams Baptist and Central Baptist, two teams the Spartans have already beaten, will play an elimination game at Noon on Thursday, with the winner facing MBU at 3:00 p.m. The Spartans are a combined 7-1 against the Eagles and Mustangs this season. If the Spartans lose on Thursday, it will force a winner-take-all game for the AMC Baseball Conference Tournament Championship title on Friday at Noon.