ST. LOUIS – Maryville baseball celebrated their seniors' final homestand in style, taking both games of a doubleheader over Southwest Baptist University to earn the sweep on Sunday afternoon.
 
Game One Recap
Both teams were held scoreless in the first inning, but Maryville exploded for eight runs in the bottom of the second inning.
 
Dominic Connolly started the scoring with an RBI single, Joey Polak extended the lead to two with an RBI double, and Alex Hoff drove in a third with an infield single. Two more came home on a Michael Gould single up the middle, Ben Hopkins drove in a pair with a double to center, and then he came home to score on Andy Bunton's RBI double. 
 
SBU continued to show resiliency, as they have all series, coming back in the third with six runs to cut the lead to 8-6. 
 
Elias Stevens picked up an RBI on a double in the third as did Hopkins with a bases-loaded walk. Two more came home to score in the fifth on a Stevens two-run shot to left, and they pushed their lead to 15-6 in the sixth on hits from Connolly and Polak. 
 
Nick Schmidt was called upon to close out the game in the seventh and gave up a solo home run before finishing off the Bearcats with a 15-7 final.
 
Winning Pitcher: Ben Prywitch (6-0)
Losing Pitcher: Brennan Espy (0-7)
 
Hitting Leaders:
Joey Polak: 3-for-4, 2B, 3 RBI, 2 R, BB
Elias Stevens: 2-for-2, HR, 3 RBI, 3 R, 3 BB
Dominic Connolly: 3-for-5, 2 2B, 2 RBI, 3 R
 
 
Game Two Recap
The Bearcats took a first-inning lead for the third time in the series on a Rhys Cratty solo home run to centerfield. SBU picked up another single before starting pitcher Ryan Louck retired the next hitter with a flyout. 
 
Maryville did not allow the visitors to hold a lead long, posting four in the bottom of the first. Connolly got the inning started with a double to left field and came home to score on Polak's single. Two batters later, Gould hit a fly ball to centerfield that was dropped, plating two more followed by an RBI groundout from Hopkins.
 
The Saints added four more in the bottom of the second, three of which came on a Gould three-RBI double to right-center field to score Hoff, Polak, and Connolly. 
 
The SBU bullpen reduced the damage over the next three frames, holding the home team at eight runs while their offense went to work with a run in the third and two in the fifth. 
 
Polak hit his 29th career home run in the bottom of the sixth inning before catcher Tyler Ward extended the lead to 10-4 with an RBI single. The Bearcats got two back in the top of the seventh before Geo Camfield shut the door on a 10-6 Saints win and a sweep of the Bearcats.
 
Winning Pitcher: Ryan Louck (3-5)
Losing Pitcher: Khalil V'azquez Torres (0-6)
 
Hitting Leaders:
Joey Polak: 4-for-4, HR, 2 RBI, 3 R
Michael Gould: 1-for-4, 2B, 3 RBI, R
Nick Hofmann: 2-for-3, 2B, R
 

Records:
Maryville: 27-18, 16-8 GLVC
Southwest Baptist: 8-37, 3-21 GLVC
  
What's Next?
With sole possession of second place, the Saints will head into a four-game road series with the University of Missouri–St. Louis this weekend just two games back of Drury University for the top spot in the division. Game one is scheduled for Friday, May 6 at 2 p.m.