O'FALLON, MO. – At Carshield Field, Missouri Baptist welcomed the Pioneers of Crowley's Ridge to the AMC by posting 19 in the run column in game one and shutting them out in game two for a 2-0 start to the AMC portion of the schedule.

Game 1 Recap

Carter Sabol continued his impressive start to the 2025 campaign against the Crowley's Ridge Pioneers as he posted a shutdown inning, setting the Spartans up with a chance to score first. Missouri Baptist did just that as Kai Gray found his way on base with a walk and Blayne Yarger drove him home following a wild pitch to make it 1-0.

Sabol and the Spartans defense went right back to work stranding a pair of runners on base and taking the one run lead into the bottom of the second.

The Spartans did some damage in the second frame, scoring seven runs on six hits and one error. Jacob Kouneski led off the inning with a walk and Miles Meadows, his pinch runner, advanced to second on a wild pitch before Jayden Orozco drove him home with a single into left field. Marcus Graham put Spartans at the corners with a bunt single, and Dominic Palma did as well with an RBI single that moved Graham to third, making it 3-0. Gray and Yarger had repeats of their first at-bats with a walk and an RBI single, respectively, before James Jett busted the game open with a grand slam over the left-center field fence.

Up 8-0, Sabol went three-up-three-down in the top of the third, striking out one.

The bottom portion of the Spartans order set up the top again in the bottom of the third, and Yarger got a pitch he liked and blasted it over the fence for a grand slam of his own, making it 12-0. The inning was not over as Jett walked and Cole Robinson was hit by a pitch, setting the table for Kouneski who hit a three-run shot.

Lucas Lefebvre joined the home run club with a solo homer leading off in the fourth inning before the Spartans manufactured three more runs in the inning.

With a 19-0 lead, Sabol and Brady Stephan took care of business on the mound for Missouri Baptist. The Pioneers scratched one unearned run across the plate in the ninth, and the Spartans went on to win 19-1 in the Pioneers' first AMC clash.

Winning Pitcher: Carter Sabol (3-0)

Losing Pitcher: L, Graff (0-3)

Batting Leaders

Blayne Yarger: 3-for-3, HR, 6 RBI, 3 R

Jakob Kouneski: 3-for-3, HR, 4 RBI, R

James Jett: 2-for-3, HR, 5 RBI, 3 R

Dominic Palma: 3-for-3, RBI, 2 R

Jayden Orozco: 2-for-3, BB, RBI, R

Game 2 Recap

Teague Robertson trotted out to the mound for game two of the Spartans' doubleheader, and he went to work. He struck out seven batters in six innings of work while only allowing one hit and no runs.

Missouri Baptist's offense picked up right where they left off in the bottom of the first inning as Yarger, Jett, and Robinson all found their way on before Kouneski gave a ball a ride into left field for a sacrifice fly and Orozco hit a two-RBI double, giving MBU a 3-0 lead after the frame.

The Spartans continued to tack onto their lead throughout the course of the game as Robinson scored Yarger on a sacrifice fly in the third, Yarger singled to bring Palma home in the fourth, and Tyson Ludwig brought Orozco home on a single in the fifth.

JD Whitter finished the game on the bump for the Spartans as he struck out the side in the top of the seventh to complete the victory for Missouri Baptist, 6-0.

Winning Pitcher: Teague Robertson (1-2)

Losing Pitcher: P. Gordon (0-1)

Batting Leaders

Blayne Yarger: 3-for-4, RBI, 2 R

Jayden Orozco: 2-for-2, 2 RBI, R

Missouri Baptist powered their way past the Pioneers in the doubleheader with seven extra base hits, four homeruns and three doubles, on the day. Timely hitting also helped the Spartans in the pair of games as they had excellent batting averages with runners in scoring position in both games, going 11-14 at one point in game one.

Records

Missouri Baptist: 7-3 (2-0 AMC)

Crowley's Ridge: 0-10 (0-2 AMC)

What's Next?

Missouri Baptist has their home opener at Spartan Baseball Field this Saturday when they host a four game series against Hannibal-LaGrange.

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