No. 25 Baker Takes Down No. 19 Benedictine, 2-0 for Third Top-25 Win

ATCHISON, Kan. - Facing its second straight ranked opponent, No. 25 Baker knocked off No. 19 Benedictine, 2-0 on the road Wednesday night for the Wildcats' third win over a top-25 club this season.

Reilly Marlow-Jones collaborated on both goals for the Wildcats, setting up Jim Hendrix's goal in the first half and delivering a late knockout punch with a goal in the final six minutes to give BU its ninth win of the year.

Keeper Christian Villegas and the BU defense secured their fourth shutout of the season - and second against a ranked team - with Villegas collecting three saves and the Wildcats stifling a Ravens offense that had only gone scoreless one other time this season.

Baker finished with a 14-9 advantage in shots with Marlow-Jones (4) and Akira Itadani (3) leading the charge. The Wildcats earned five corner kicks in the match, while Benedictine's lone corner kick of the night didn't come until midway through the second half.

The Ravens seized control early on in the game, registering all three of their first-half shots in the opening 10 minutes before things settled down.

Coming into the match second on the team in assists, Marlow-Jones put on a clinic to tee up Baker's first goal in the 25th minute, carving his way through the BC defense before laying a ball over to Hendrix for his fifth assist of the season.

Hendrix, who scored last week against Mission, notched the third goal of his freshman campaign.

Trying to scratch across an equalizer, Benedictine put up six shots in the second half with two of them landing in the hands of Villegas.

Ironically, it was off of the Ravens' final shot of the match that led to the game-sealing goal for BU in the 84th minute. Villegas sent a long outlet pass up the right side where Itadani eventually fired off a shot in the box that was blocked by the BC keeper and out to Marlow-Jones who cleaned things up and garnished the 2-0 victory for Baker.

Scoring in four straight games now, Marlow-Jones leads the team with eight goals this season and has earned three points in two of his past three matches.

Wednesday's match was the fifth time the Wildcats have gone up against a ranked opponent this fall, improving to a 3-2 record against top-25 teams with wins over Benedictine (No. 19), MidAmerica Nazarene (No. 10) and Union (No. 23). BU entered the national rankings for the first time in 2024 last week, coming in at No. 25 in the latest NAIA Top-25 Poll.

Baker moves to 9-3 overall and will be back in action on Saturday, Oct. 5 with a matchup at Clarke starting at 7:30 p.m. in Dubuque, Iowa.

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