Taylor Hodges, Sports Information Director

O'FALLON, Mo. – The No. 2 Lions baseball team (10-4, 3-0 AMC) extended its win streak to eight games after sweeping Missouri Baptist (6-5, 0-3 AMC) with a 7-2 win on Friday in the first American Midwest Conference series of the season.

For the second straight game, a Lion pitcher threw a complete-game win. Yesterday, it was freshman Alex Huey who went nine innings on exactly 100 pitches, and today, Jacob Sawyers did it, striking out four batters on 113 pitches and only surrendering one base-on-balls.

Freed-Hardeman jumped out to an early 5-0 lead after going up 1-0 in the bottom of the first off of a Bryce Lester solo shot to lead off the half inning, his second homerun of the series.

The bottom of the second yielded four runs, two off of a two-run single hit by Zach Sanders, a wild pitch that scored De'Mikyle Holmes and a one-run double off the bat of James Dodd.

The Spartans were able to get one of those runs back in the top of the fourth, but the Lions answered quickly in the ensuing half inning, scoring two runs after an E2 that scored Collin Baber and a single by Collin McPherson that scored Lester.

Missouri Baptist gave themselves a great chance to take a sizeable chunk out of the Freed-Hardeman lead in the top of the sixth inning when they had bases loaded with two outs. But Sawyers was able to escape the threat after forcing a 5-3 groundout.

The second-ranked Lions are scheduled to play a three-game series at home against Williams Baptist, beginning with a single game on Friday at 5 p.m., followed by a double-header on Saturday beginning at 12 noon.