FULTON, Mo.- After splitting the day one double-header against Benedictine-Springfield on Friday and Saturday's games being rained-out, the William Woods baseball team will head to Culver-Stockton, in a one game nine inning showdown.
The Owls (10-12, 6-6 AMC) have lost five out of their last six games, including a four game sweep against No. 17 Missouri Baptist. The team has hit 0.221 overall the last six games compared to their opponents hitting 0.288, also the Owls have been outscored 16-27 and out-hit 36-51.
Zach Nichols has been hitting the ball well as of late, going 8-for-15 (0.533), with three doubles, one home run and four RBI.
Matt Thomas and
Stephen Kohler are both batting 0.357 with five hits apiece and
Jacob Harrison is the final batter to be hitting over 0.300 in the last six games (0.333), getting six hits and two RBI.
Pitching has not been a strong point lately as well, as they hold a 5.11 earned run average (1-5 record), with
Jeremy Ahillen getting the lone win last Friday in the second game of the double-header against Benedictine-Springfield. Besides Ahillen and
Matt Thomas, no other hurler has an ERA under 4.00. Ace
Adam Brush has struggled in his last two outings (0-2), having a 6.55 ERA through 11.0 innings pitched and a K/BB ratio of 8/8.
Overall on the season, Greg Hamrock continues to lead the way batting 0.424 through 20 games played, leading the team in hits (25), doubles (6), and total bases (31). Hamrock still holds the top average in the conference, having a 0.07 lead over Ian Sikes from Hannibal-LaGrange (0.417). Nichols continues to move his average up, as he is now batting 0.409 with 14 runs scored and 13 RBI.
Stephen Kohler (0.365) and
Justin Elmore (0.333) round out the top four in batting average for the Owls.
On the hill, the team has four pitchers with an ERA under 3.00, with Ahillen leading the starters with a 2.45 ERA through four games started.
Matt Thomas (2.45),
Dane Smith (2.72) and
Adam Brush (2.81), are the other Owl pitchers with impressive ERA's. Brush still leads the team in wins (4) through 41 2/3 innings pitched and has a K/BB ratio of 33/18.
The Culver-Stockton Wildcats (12-17, 4-8 HAAC), have had an up-and-down season thus far, as the team tries to get their overall back to .500, which they haven't been since they were 6-6 back on March 5
th. The Wildcats are coming off a 1-3 record in a four game series against Evangel University, with their lone win coming in game three, defeating Evangel 1-0.
Brock Kartheiser got his second win on the season, throwing a complete game, allowing three hits, one walk and striking out six batters. Their one run came in the top of bottom of the first inning, as Gene Nanney hit a sacrifice fly scoring Cody Jacobson.
Cody Jacobson leads the Wildcats on offense with a 0.289 average through 25 games played, leading the team in hits (22), RBI (13) and is second on the team in total bases (28). The team has an overall batting average of 0.230, compared to their opponents hitting 0.251. Gene Nanney holds the second best average with a 0.269 average and leads the team in RBI with 17.
Hurler Jim Granak holds the best ERA with a 2.16 through five appearances on the mound, as for starters the top ERA belongs to Craig Bastert earning a 3.04 earned run average through eight games started, having a 3-3 record through 50 1/3 innings pitched. The Wildcat pitchers hold an ERA 4.11 ERA through 197.0 innings pitched and have a K/BB ratio of 144/84.
First-pitch for tomorrow's game will be thrown at 4:00 p.m. Check back with wwuowls.com later in the evening for score final and recap.
