SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- Despite collecting 16 hits over the four-hour marathon contest, the William Woods University baseball team dropped its first-round game in the AMC Postseason Tournament by a 4-3 margin to Park University.
Matt Thomas (Brashear, Mo.) took the loss in relief for the Owls.
William Woods opened the scoring in the top of the sixth inning, as Thomas hit a one-out sac fly to score
Jacob Harrison (Fulton, Mo.) - who had led off the inning with a single. Hoever, Park leveled the score in the bottom of the frame and took a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the seventh.
After retiring in order in the top of the eighth, the Owls mounted a rally in the bottom of the ninth.
Damon Adrian (Mary's Home, Mo.) led off the inning with a single, with Robert Butvin (Mantua, Ohio) following suit. A sacrifice bunt from
Chris Fletcher (Moberly, Mo.) put the runners in scoring position, with
Derek Fletcher (Moberly, Mo.) looping a single to right to score Adrian and Butvin, but WWU couldn't push into the lead, and Park retired in order in the bottom of the ninth.
Each team was able to threaten a couple of times over the extra sessions, with WWU stranding two runners in each of the 13th through 15th innings and Park leaving three on in the 10th and two in the 15th.
The Owls couldn't mount a threat in the 16th and Park would pull off the win in the bottom half of the inning, mounting a two-out rally to pull away 4-3 winners.
William Woods moves to 33-18 on the season, and will battle to keep its season alive on Saturday, taking on Harris-Stowe State University at noon.
