Box Score
BELLEVILLE, Ill. -- A five-run fifth inning by the William Woods University baseball team helped them to a 7-1 road victory over future American Midwest Conference opponent Lindenwood University-Belleville on Wednesday afternoon.
With William Woods (17-8) already leading 1-0, the Owls exploded for five runs in the top of the fifth inning to extend its advantage to 6-0. Lindenwood-Belleville (15-9) would get a run back in the bottom of the seventh, but WWU would tact on another run in the t ninth to give them a 7-1 non-conference victory over the Lynx.
AMC Player of the Week, Nick Spagnola, and Austin Clapp led off the fifth with back-to-back singles. Alex St. Pierre drove in Spagnola, while Clapp was able to score on a wild throw committed by the Lindenwood-Belleville starting pitcher. Cody Stewart bounced into a 4-3 fielder's choice to knock in the inning's third run, and Matt Thomas capped off the five-run frame with a two-out, two RBI single.
The outburst was more than enough to support starting pitcher Bubba Bradshaw, who recorded another spectacular start for William Woods. Bradshaw, who was coming off a career-long 6.1 innings outing, set another new career-best in innings pitched by tossing seven full frames and allowed just one run on five hits. The righty also topped his previous best mark in strikeouts, which was also set in his last start, by fanning seven Lynx batters, while walking just one.
The St. Louis, Mo., native is now 3-0 on the year with a 3.57 ERA. Over his last two starts, Bradshaw is 2-0 and has tossed 13.1 innings, allowing 13 hits, and striking out 11 batters to just one walk.
The Owls collected nine hits on the day, led by a pair of two-hit performances from Austin Clapp and Dustin Kremer. The two hits extended Clapp's hitting streak to nine games, as he is hitting .445 over the stretch.
Cody Stewart and Matt Thomas each picked up a pair of RBI in the victory. While Alex St. Pierre, Kyle Switzer, and Kremer each drove in one run apiece.
Mike Wuelling suffered the loss for Lindenwood-Belleville, falling to 1-3 on the year. Wuelling allowed six runs, four earned, on five hits in five innings of work. Christian Cavaness paced the Lynx offense by picking up two of the team's six hits.
William Woods got on the scoreboard in the second inning with a Kremer RBI single to left, scoring Zach Nichols. Kremer would be thrown out at first trying to stretch the play, but not before he was able to give his team the 1-0 lead.
After the five-run fifth for WWU, Lindenwood-Belleville was able to get one of those runs back in the bottom of the seventh.
LU-B loaded the bases against Bradshaw with no outs to start the inning, bringing Jake Degener to the plate with a chance to pull his team back into the game. Degener sent the pitch into leftfield, however, he was only able to get just one run in. Bradshaw recovered after that and got the next three batters out thanks to a strikeout and a nifty double play by Cody Stewart, who threw out a runner at the plate trying to tag on the catch.
WWU added a run in the top of the ninth, as Stewart collected a two-out RBI single.
The trio of Damon Adrian, Matt Thomas, and James Ball closed out the game with two shutout innings to give the Owls a 7-1 win.
William Woods returns to action this weekend, as they host Lyon College for a pivotal three-game AMC series. The Scots and Owls are both in a three-way tie with Benedictine University at Springfield for third in the conference at 7-4. This weekend's series is an important one for both teams, as they trail AMC co-leaders, No. 4 Missouri Baptist and No. 20 Freed-Hardeman, by two games. The three-game series kicks-off on Friday with a doubleheader, followed by a Saturday afternoon game. Friday's doubleheader starts at 12 p.m.
Check back with wwuowls.com for a full preview and recap of this and every game during the 2014 season.Â
