FULTON, Mo. -- The William Woods University baseball team was able to split a Saturday afternoon American Midwest Conference doubleheader against No. 3-ranked Missouri Baptist University, winning game one in comeback fashion, before falling behind early in game two to settle for the split.

William Woods (27-9, 14-7 AMC) was no-hit through the first three innings of game one before exploding for eight runs in the final three frames to erase a 3-0 deficit and collect an 8-6 come-from-behind victory. Missouri Baptist (33-7, 16-5 AMC) once against jumped out to an early lead in game two of the doubleheader, but this time they would make the lead stand, as the Owls committed a season-high five errors to enable the Spartans to salvage the series' final game, 10-3.

"You're always happy to win a conference series, especially against a team that's as good as Missouri Baptist is," said Head Coach Darren Munns. "But, when you win the first two games and you let a chance of a sweep slip by it's kind of bittersweet. "I thought they (MBU) played very well this weekend, but we did not allow ourselves a chance to win game three because of our miscues in the field. When you don't play good defense it's very hard to win games."

Even though WWU took two-of-three from the conference leading Spartans, the game three loss dropped the Owls into fourth place in the AMC standings, as Lyon College and Benedictine University at Springfield were able to sweep its three-game series this weekend, overtaking William Woods in the standings.

Junior Nick Spagnola had a monster series at the plate against the Spartans, as the Algonquin, Ill., native hit an even .400 (4-for-10) with a double, triple, and home run. The three extra-base hits helped him drive in four RBI and score four runs in the three-game series. The outfielder also was a perfect 4-for-4 in stolen base attempts on the weekend, giving him 16 on the year.

Reliever James Ball also came up big for WWU, as he was able to close out the first two games of the series to record his ninth and 10th saves of the year.

The pair of saves this weekend made him just the second player in program history to record double-digits saves in a single season. He needs just three more saves to surpass Alex Cann's single-season record of 12 set back in 2011. The two saves also places Ball fifth on the school's all-time saves list, breaking a tie he had coming into this weekend with Shawn Anderson.

Game One Recap

William Woods was no-hit through the game's first three innings, but was able to recover and post three straight scoring frames to end the game and record a come-from-behind 8-6 victory in game two of this weekend's three-game series at Owls Field.

Missouri Baptist starter David Mullins retired nine of the first 12 batters he faced, but still allowed three base runners (two walks and a hit-by-pitch) in his first three innings of work. The southpaw was slated to a 3-0 lead, thanks to a two-out, two-RBI single from Trevin Craig in the second inning and a Dan Harper RBI single in the third.  

MBU was looking to add to its lead in the top of the fourth, as they had runners on second and third with one out in the frame. Coach Munns decided to end starter John Cavness' day there, bringing in Ryan Yuengel out of the pen.

The junior rewarded the coach's decision to go to him by getting out of the jam with a strikeout of Joshua Fuentes and getting the conference's leading hitter, Orlando Olivera, to fly out to right, leaving the score at 3-0.

The Owls broke through with a hit with their first batter in the bottom of the fourth, as Cody Stewart hit a seeing-eye single through the hole at second base. The centerfielder was brought home two batter later, as Nick Spagnola hit a two-out, two-run homer to bring the Owls within one at 3-2.

That inning would mark the first of three consecutive scoring innings for William Woods to help them take the lead.

In the fifth, Stewart drove in a pair of runs with another single through the hole at second base, giving the Owls the 4-3 lead. Matt Thomas drove in the third run of the inning, as his sacrifice fly allowed Sam Moon to score and give WWU the 5-3 lead.

Alex St. Pierre added another run for the Owls in the bottom of the sixth with a squeeze bunt to score to Spagnola. Stewart capped off his day later in the frame, as the junior added another pair of runs to his RBI total in the game, with a two-out single to give his team an 8-3 advantage. The hit gave the Temecula, Calif., native his third hit for in the game, as he went a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate and drove in four runs.

WWU would just about need all those runs, as Yuengel allowed a two-run home run in the top of the seventh to end his day. The Festus, Mo., native was outstanding in the relief appearance, as he allowed just two run on five hits, and struck out four in 2.2 innings of work to pick up his second win of the year.

Ball would come in and walk the first batter he faced. That runner would eventually come around and score off of a sac fly to give the Spartans a three-spot in the frame. The closer was able to recover and strikeout Erik Garcia to record his 10th save of the year and cap-off the come-from-behind win.

Game Two Recap

Missouri Baptist University jumped out to an 8-0 lead after the first five innings of play, and that would be too much to overcome for the William Woods University baseball team, as its late rally would fall short, giving the Spartans the 10-3 win the in series finale.

Bubba Bradshaw got the start for William Woods, and the Spartans got to him early and often, as he gave up three in the second inning, one in the fourth, and two in the fifth to end his three-game streak of quality starts.

The defense had a rough day, as the Owls committed a season-high five errors in the losing, making just three of the six runs Bradshaw allowed earned.

The starter almost made it out of the fifth inning, as he recorded two outs, but an error at first base extended the inning and ended the day for the St. Louis, Mo., native.

After an Orlando Olivera single, Eli Roundtree capped off the four-run frame by smashing a three-run shot over the right field wall to give his team a commanding 8-0 lead after five innings.

William Woods would end the shutout in the seventh inning with a Sam Moon fielder's choice that allowed Damon Adrian to score. The Owls added two more in the next inning with an Adrian walk with the bases loaded and a Dustin Kremer fielder's choice.

Roundtree ended any hope of a WWU comeback in the top of the ninth with his seconder dinger of the year, a two-run homerun to left, which gave his team the 10-3 win.

Nick Spagnola and Matt Thomas each collected two hits on the day to lead the way for the Owls.

Michael Yarborough picked up the win for No. 3 Missouri Baptist, as he tossed 6.1 innings of one-run, four-hit baseball. The righty threw nearly 120 pitches on the day, thanks to his nine strikeouts and four walks.

William Woods will be back in action on Tuesday afternoon, as they step out of AMC play to take on MidAmerica Nazarene for a road doubleheader. Just like the Owls, the Pioneers received votes in the most recent NAIA Top 25 poll, as they are 24-11 on the year and 16-4 in the Heart of America Athletic Conference. First pitch of the doubleheader is slated for 1 p.m.

Check back with wwuowls.com for a full preview and recap of both games.