FULTON, Mo. -- The William Woods University baseball team used a four-run third inning to lift them to a 5-4 home-opening victory over Culver-Stockton College on Tuesday afternoon.

William Woods (13-3) broke a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the third to with a Matt Thomas RBI single through the hole in between second and first to score Cody Stewart to  give WWU a 2-1 lead. Nick Spagnola, Tyler Nemmers, and Javier Ledesma each picked up an RBI in the inning to give their team a 5-1 lead.

Culver-Stockton (7-8) pulled within a single run in the fifth, thanks to a three-run inning, but the trio of Dylan Hastings, Ryan Yuengel, and James Ball came out of the bullpen and tossed 4.2 scoreless innings to preserve WWU's 5-4 victory.

"That was one heckuva college baseball game this afternoon," said Head Coach Darren Munns. "I was really pleased with the performance of our bullpen today. We've got some live arms down there, and they stepped up today and went toe-to-toe with a very tough Culver-Stockton pen."

Dylan Hastings picked up the win for William Woods, as he came into the fifth inning to stop the bleeding, and picked up the final two outs of the three-run frame for Culver-Stockton to keep his team's lead intact. The win is the first for the junior in an Owls uniform, as he tossed to a 1.2 shutout innings. The righty struck out two and gave up a pair of hits in the outing.

"I hope he can build off today's performance," said Munns of his right hander. "He has a big arm coming out of the bullpen. He throws a legit 90 to 91 mph and also has a good slider. He has the equipment to be a really good pitcher out of the pen, and hopefully he becomes more consistent. He is coming along, and we believe he will turn into the pitcher we think he can be."

James Ball picked up the save for William Woods thanks to his two perfect frames in the eighth and ninth inning. It is the fourth save on the year for Ball.

Junior College transfer, Javier Ledesma, led the way for the William Woods offense on the day, as he picked up a team-high two hits in three at-bats, and was one of four Owls to drive in a run on the day. Ledesma came into the game just hitting .150, as he picked up only three hits in his 20-at bats, but that did not prevent him from collecting his first multi-hit game of the season.

"Javier has been hitting the ball hard all season," Munns said of Ledesma. "He probably leads the team in hard hit outs, which shows he is hitting the ball better than his numbers would indicate. He did a great job today at keeping rallies alive, and he put in quality at-bats together. I expect that to continue because he is a good player."

As a team, William Woods collected six hits on the day, as Matt Thomas, Nick Spagnola, and Tyler Nemmers each picked up an RBI in the win.

The Owls struck first on the day, as they were able to plate a run off of a misplayed grounder to first base, enabling Stewart to score, and give WWU a 1-0 advantage.

Culver-Stockton answer in the next half inning, as Cody Jacobson led off the top of the second with a solo home run, knotting the game at 1-1.

William Woods' big third inning gave them a 5-1 advantage, but the Wildcats would claw back into the game thanks to a three-run fifth, pulling them within one at 5-4.

C-SC recorded back-to-back one-out singles in the top half of the sixth to put the go-ahead run at first. A Hastings wild pitch advanced both runners 90-feet, but he was able to recover to get the next two outs to escape the jam with his team's one-run lead intact.

That would be the last serious threat the Wildcats would pose on the day, as Yuengel and Ball allowed just one hit over the game's final three innings to give William Woods the 5-4 victory.

WWU will jump back into conference play on Friday afternoon, as they host No. 25 Freed-Hardeman University for its 2014 AMC home-opener. Both squads are 2-1 in AMC play, as the Owls won a three-game set against Hannibal-LaGrange, and FHU took two-of-three against defending AMC Tournament champion Benedictine University at Springfield last week.

The three-game set will open on Friday night with a 6 p.m. start time, and conclude with a Saturday afternoon doubleheader starting at 12 p.m.

Check back with wwuowls.com for a full preview and recap of the series. 

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