FULTON, Mo. -- The William Woods University baseball team got a pair of stellar starts from Dane Smith and John Cavness on Friday afternoon, as the duo gave up just one run in 15 combined innings to help the Owls collect an American Midwest Conference doubleheader sweep against Lyon College.

Smith tossed a complete game shutout in the afternoon's first contest, which helped William Woods (21-6, 9-4 AMC) collect a 2-0 victory. Cavness followed that performance with a one-run, eight-inning outing in game two to help the Owls complete the doubleheader sweep over Lyon College (17-16, 7-6 AMC) with an 8-1 win.

"It all starts with starting pitching, and both of those guys pitched great today," said Head Coach Darren Munns. "They were keeping ahead in counts and pitched at a good pace to help us collect a pair of wins against a very talented Lyon College team. Kyle Switzer also deserves some credit because he called a great game behind the plate today for both of those guys."

With each pitcher picking up a win, Cavness and Smith remain tied for the team lead in wins with five apiece. Both pitchers have recorded a 5-1 record on the year.

Game One Recap

Dane Smith's complete game shutout helped the William Woods University baseball team collect a hard-fought 2-0 win in game one of Friday's doubleheader over Lyon College.

The righty was able to bounce back from a pair of rough starts his last two times out, to record his fourth complete game shutout of the year. Smith struck out six batters, while allowing one walk, in seven innings of work.

"Dane is one of the best pitchers in our league, and I'm glad he was able to recover from a bad start at Harris-Stowe," said Head Coach Darren Munns. "He left the ball up on a windy day, and in their ballpark even the best pitchers will have a rough day, so I had a good feeling he would return to form today."

With the win, Smith now moves to 5-1 on the year, and the seven shutout innings now lowers his ERA back under three at 2.91.

William Woods needed almost every shutout inning that the starter produced, as its offense was held hitless over the game's first four innings, but an error by Lyon College in the first inning allowed them to take a 1-0 advantage. The Owls would tact on an insurance run in the bottom of the fifth, as they were able to break through with a hit, and the two runs would be enough for WWU to take home the 2-0 victory.  

Cody Stewart and Dustin Kremer were able to collect the team's only hits on the day. Stewart hit the ball softly to second base and beat out the throw to allow Javier Ledesma to score in the fifth inning, and Kremer sent a shot through the hole at short in the next inning.

Lyon College was able to collect five hits off Smith, but they were unable to bring any of them around to score. The Scots had an opportunity to pull even with the Owls in the fifth with two runners on and one out. But Smith was able to escape the jam by inducing a 5-4-3 double play to end the inning and keep the 1-0 lead intact.

Ben Neyen suffered the tough-luck loss for the Scots, as he took a no-hitter into the fifth inning, only to be handed his fourth loss of the year. The righty gave up just one earned run in six innings.

Game Two Recap

The William Woods University baseball team exploded for eight runs in the day's final game, as the outburst was more than enough to support starting pitcher John Cavness has he turned in eight innings of one-run ball to give WWU the 8-1 victory.

The lefty turned in one of his best performance in an Owl's uniform on Friday by going a career long eight innings and allowing just one run and striking out five. The Cassville, Mo., native entered the ninth inning, but allowed the first hitter to reach, ending his day with eight solid frames of work.

"He was super today, he threw strikes, kept the ball down, and kept hitters off balanced all day," said Head Coach Darren Munns. "He had all three pitches working today, and I gave him a chance to go out in the ninth with a low pitch count because he had so many clean innings. I'm just proud of his performance today. I hope he can build on it and continue to become a really good pitcher in this league."

The win improves Cavness' record to 5-1 on the year. The southpaw's one-run outing lowers his ERA under four at 3.55.

Offensive, Zach Nichols led the way for William Woods as he went a perfect 5-for-5 at the plate with three doubles and three runs scored. The five hits are a season-high for the Hannibal, Mo., native, as he was able to break a two-game hitless streak in Friday's game two.

"Zach is going to hit and we know that," said Munns. "He was struggling here of late and he had some good at-bats the last couple of games but wasn't able show anything from it. It's good for him to have a big game today and break out of that funk."

Nichols collected five of the team's 13 hits in game two. Dustin Kremer kept his hot bat alive this afternoon by going 3-for-4 with an RBI. Austin Clapp led the way with two RBI, and Sam Moon, Cody Stewart, Alex St. Pierre, and Kyle Switzer each drove in one run apiece.

Talan Roeocke suffered the loss for Lyon College, as the lefty gave up four runs, all earned, on seven hits in 4.2 innings of work. Kris Kohlstedt and Joe Campbell each collected two of the team's seven hits on the day.

The Owls got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the second inning, as Stewart brought in a run with a hit-by-pitch with the bases load. WWU added another score in the next inning thanks to small ball, as Nichols led off with a double, advanced over with a bunt, and scored on a double-steal.

Small ball helped William Woods scratch across another run in the fifth inning, Matt Thomas and Nichols led off the inning with back-to-back hits. Both were bunted over to third with less than two outs, and Clapp was able to drive Thomas in with a sacrifice fly to right, making it 3-0, WWU. Kremer followed Clapp with an RBI single to score Nichols, giving his team the 4-0 lead.

William Woods put the game out of reach in the bottom of seventh with a four-run inning. Lyon College was able to get a run back in the top of the ninth, but that would be all they could get off the Owl's pitching staff, as WWU took game two, 8-1.

The series will conclude tomorrow afternoon with a nine inning game starting at 1 p.m.

Check back with wwuowls.com for a full recap of every game during the 2014 season.

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