FULTON, Mo. -- The William Woods University baseball team got a dominate performance from its bullpen on Tuesday evening to push its winnings streak six games, as the Owls defeated Missouri Valley College, 9-1, at Owls Field.

The combination of Ryan Yuengel, Ryan Schmidt, Dylan Hastings, and James Ball combined to throw seven innings of shutout baseball, allowing just three hits, and striking out 11 Missouri Valley (10-29) batters to help William Woods (33-9) extend its winning streak to six games, as WWU collected the eight-run victory.

Head Coach Darren Munns was extremely pleased with the effort of his pen tonight, as the seven shutout innings extends his bullpen's scoreless streak to 17 innings over the last six games. The coach believes that his relievers will be one of his team's strengths entering next weekend's American Midwest Conference Tournament, and tonight's effort was a demonstration of why he believes in his bullpen.

"I thought we pitched well tonight, the bullpen was great once again. That group has really come on here in the second half of the season," said Munns. "As you move down the stretch, especially in tournament play, you are going to have a lot of close games where you need an effective bullpen. We have people who have settled into their roles down there and have gotten more comfortable with how they are used. Their efficiency tonight really sets us up well for the weekend."

During the six-game winning streak, the bullpen has a perfect ERA of 0.00, as they have not allowed a single run in its last 17 innings, allowing just five hits, and striking out 22 hitters over the stretch.

Yuengel was able to pick up the win for William Woods, as he came in for starter Garret Haslag, who lasted just two innings, giving up one earned run, to end the Owls run of four straight quality starts. The reliever game into the game in the third inning and lasted two frames, striking out four, to pick up his third win of the season.

Offensively, the Owls posted their fifth double-digit hit performance over their last six games, as they collected 11 hits. Matt Thomas led the way for WWU on the night with his three-hit effort.

"I've been very pleased with our offense of late," expressed Munns. "It's more about scoring runs rather than getting hits, but here recently we've been able to do both. They've been giving us leads early in the game, which our starters have been able to maintain, and when you turn a lead over with the kind of bullpen we have, it makes things a lot easier."

Sam Moon, Zach Nichols, and Nick Spagnola also had multiple hits on the night, as each player posted two hits in the win. Nichols, along with senior catcher Kyle Switzer, drove in a team-high two RBIs on the night.

The hits for Moon and Thomas extends their recent hitting streak, as Thomas has now reached base safely over his last seven game, and Moon has collected a hit in each game of the six-game winning streak.

Centerfielder Cody Stewart went 0-for-3 on the night, ending his 11-game hitting streak, but was still able to drive in a run for the sixth straight game with a sacrifice fly in the eighth inning.  

William Woods was also able to keep another unique streak alive on Tuesday night, as the win kept their perfect mid-week record intact at 11-0.

Coach Munns says that the 11-0 record is a testament to his team's pitching depth, as his team has been able to get quality starts in a majority of those games, giving his offense a chance to win.

The Owls jumped on Missouri Valley starter Brady Norwak in the first inning, as he was unable to close out the frame, allowing seven runs on four hits.

Geoff Butler came in relief of Norwak and kept the WWU bats silent for two innings, as his team was able to get him a run back. The first three batters reached base for the Vikings in the third that led to a run, ending Haslag's day.

WWU broke Butler's scoreless streak in the fourth inning, as they posted two-out rally with three straight singles from Thomas, Nichols, and Spagnola that resulted in an RBI for Spagnola.

The Owls added another run in their final at-bat of the game, as Stewart drove in Javier Ledesma with a sacrifice fly to center field, helping William Woods to the 9-1 win.

The team will jump back into conference play this weekend, as they host 2013 AMC Tournament champion, Benedictine University at Springfield, for a three-game series at Owls Field.

The Owls enter the final weekend of conference play just two games behind leader No. 6 Missouri Baptist, and only a game back from second place Lyon College. William Woods can win either a share or the outright AMC regular season title this weekend, but will need a lot of help from other teams in the conference.

The top six schools in the league will be playing each other this weekend, as the current No. 1-seed in the next week's AMC Tournament, Missouri Baptist, travels to No. 4-seeded Freed-Hardeman University, and No. 2 Lyon College hosts No. 6-seed Park University, while No. 3 seed William Woods host No. 5 Benedictine University at Springfield.  All 'seeds' are based on current positioning in the AMC standings.  

The Owls will open the crucial three-game on Friday night with a nine-inning game starting at 6 p.m., and will wrap-up on Saturday afternoon with a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m.

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