Wildcats Earn Top-25 Win, Weekend Split to Close 12-Game Homestand

BALDWIN CITY - Finishing off a 12-game homestand that stretched over a two-week span, Baker baseball split a pair of non-conference matchups on Sauder Field this weekend, including a top-25 victory over No. 21 Doane.

The Wildcats opened up the weekend with a 3-0 shutout over the Tigers for BU's first win against an NAIA Top-25 team this year. After Doane won the second game of Saturday's doubleheader, Baker followed up with another memorable outing on Sunday, scoring a season-high 15 runs in a game-one blowout over Culver-Stockton before falling in the weekend finale.

BU 3, DU 0
TJ Armstrong belted a two-run shot over the high fence in left field to give the Wildcats a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first against the 21st-ranked Tigers.

A leadoff single from Zach Miller set the wheels in motion for another run for BU in the third with Tyson Kiser laying down a bunt single to put two runners on with nobody out. Miller was able to score from third on a slow roller up the middle off the bat of Jackson Truman to increase Baker's lead to 3-0.

After helping the Wildcats secure their first shutout of the season in his previous start, Tyler Vigna turned in another combined scoreless effort against a Tigers lineup that ranks in the top-15 nationally.

Vigna went five innings, struck out four and worked around six hits to hold Doane to its first scoreless outing in almost a full year (March 23, 2025). Anthony Sillas came on in relief in the sixth and closer Gage Callaghan battled through a couple of base runners to seal the win and earn his third save of the spring.

DU 12, BU 0
After seeing their 10-game winning streak snapped in the opener, the Tigers struck back in a big way in game two, busting out 12 runs to force the series split.

Doane opened up the game with a leadoff home run and added two additional runs across the first two innings to jump out to a 3-0 lead. The Tigers would go on to homer three more times, including twice in a three-run top of the seventh that saw the visitors close out with a 12-0 win.

BU 15, C-SC 5
After picking up a ranked win on Saturday, Baker opened up Sunday's doubleheader with its highest-scoring outing of the year on a 15-5 blowout.

Kiser and Camden Karlin both tallied three hits and four RBI and Carson Adams had a three-RBI game as the trio accounted for 11 of the 15 runs driven in. Ashton McCurty pitched four strong innings of scoreless ball, striking out six and allowing just two hits to earn his first win of the spring.

With four runs in the first two innings, BU busted open the game with a 10-run bottom of the third with Adams notching all three of his RBI in the inning on two separate at-bats. Adams, Armstrong, and Kiser each hit RBI doubles and Karlin smacked his fourth home run of the year with a three-run blast.

Tyson Grammar's RBI single in the sixth capped the 15-run game for BU.

C-SC 1, BU 0
With the 20 combined runs in game one, it seemed almost fitting that the second game of the doubleheader would be a pitchers' duel as Culver-Stockton came out on top, 1-0.

BU starting pitcher Trent Davidson totaled seven strikeouts and gave up just two hits across his four-plus innings with C-SC scoring the game's only run in the bottom of the fifth on three costly mistakes from the Baker defense.

After a leadoff walk and a one-out single, Culver-Stockton hit an infield grounder to the left side that triggered a string of three errant throws from BU and allowed what resulted as the game-winning run to come across.

While being kept in check by C-SC's starter, Baker had its best chance come in the bottom-half of the fifth as a pinch-hit single from Grammar eventually gave BU a runner at third with two down. Culver-Stockton got a flyout to escape the jam and held on the rest of the way for the one-run victory.

Going 10-6 through the first part of the season, Baker will open up the Heart of America Conference season next weekend by playing on the road at Missouri Baptist with doubleheaders starting at 1 p.m. on both Friday, March 13 and Saturday, March 14 in St. Louis.

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