Box Score FULTON, Mo- The William Woods baseball team won their regular season finale in wild fashion, defeating Missouri Valley College 9-7.
The Owls (27-15, 20-8 AMC) jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on just two hits, as Viking starter Reginald Hancock walked four batters in the inning, including two bases loaded walks. The team extended the lead to 6-0, with
Jordan Thompson hitting a single to right field that scored
Ryan Sweet who hit a one out double earlier in the inning.
William Woods starter
Ryan Schuermann was rolling heading into the top of the fourth inning, allowing just one hit through three innings pitched. Things fell apart for the Owls in the fourth inning, as the Vikings made a huge comeback, scoring six runs on six hits and now the game was all tied up.
After a scoreless fifth inning for both teams, MVC took their first lead of the evening, as an error by the Owls infield allowed Jacob Stafford, who reached on a walk earlier in the inning, to score the go ahead run. WWU, however, responded in the bottom of the sixth, with
Justin Elmore reaching on walk and
Zach Nichols getting hit-by-pitch, putting runners on first and second with nobody out.
Jacob Harrison flied out to right, allowing Elmore to move to third base and he was able to score on an
Eilert Meyers double to right field, putting Nichols on third base. After
Derek Fletcher was hit-by-pitch, Thompson hit a sacrifice fly, scoring Nichols and giving the Owls back at lead 8-7. Elmore added an RBI single in the bottom of the seventh, giving the team some breathing room at 9-7.
The Vikings threatened in the top of the ninth, but
Dylan Hastings was able to come on in relief and pick up the save for the Owls, holding on for the two run victory. The offense totaled six hits, with six different batters having one hit.
Thompson led the offense going 1-for-2 with three RBI, while Elmore went 1-for-2 with one run scored and two RBI.
Stephen Kohler, Sweet, Meyers and
Ethan Browning added one hit a piece in the game.
The Owls close out the season winning 15 out of their last 16 games and will now prepare for the American Midwest Tournament on Friday in Springfield, Ill. The team is the No. 3 seed and will play No. 2 seed Lyon College at 3:30 p.m.
Stay updated at wwuowls.com tomorrow afternoon for a preview of the matchup between Lyon and William Woods.
