FULTON, Mo. -- The William Woods University baseball team enters this weekend looking for at least a share of the American Midwest Conference regular season title, as they host the 2013 AMC Tournament Champions Benedictine University at Springfield this weekend for a three-game series. The first game is set for a 6 p.m. start time at Owls Field on Friday night, and concludes on Saturday with a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m.
William Woods (33-9, 17-7 AMC) enters the final weekend of play in third place in the AMC, but they are just two games back from current leader Missouri Baptist and a game back from second place Lyon College. Both of the teams ahead of the Owls will have their hands full this weekend, as the Spartans travel to Freed-Hardeman University, who is currently fourth in the conference standings, and the Scots will go up to Park University.
The Owls will have no walk in the park this weekend either, as they face a Benedictine University at Springfield (21-14, 15-9 AMC) that is the defending AMC Tournament champion. WWU will be looking for a bit of revenge against BenU-Springfield, as they defeated WWU in the AMC Tournament championship game a year ago.
Not only does William Woods need help from Freed-Hardeman and Park, but they will also need to take care of its own business this weekend.
The only way the Owls can win the outright AMC regular season title would be if they sweep Benedictine-Springfield, and Missouri Baptist suffers a sweep coupled with a Lyon losing two of three or being swept this weekend. William Woods can win a share of the AMC crown, and own the No. 1 seed in next weekend's AMC Tournament if they sweep the Bulldogs and MBU is either swept or loses two of three to Freed-Hardeman and Lyon wins two of three at Park. The only other way WWU claims a share of the regular season title, and the No. 1 seed in the tournament, would be if they take two of three this weekend and both the Spartans and Scots are swept.
Pitching will be key this weekend, the Owls will send out a trio of starters that are a combined 18-3 with a 3.48 ERA and 109 strikeouts in 152.2 innings pitched this season. As a staff, William Woods posts the second-lowest team ERA in the AMC with its 3.74 ERA.
Dane Smith leads the group, as the senior is 7-1 on the year with a 3.47 in 62.1 innings pitched. The Owls ace has strung together back-to-back quality starts against Missouri Baptist and Mid-Continent. The Halls, Tenn., native kept both teams of the scoreboard for six innings, before giving up three runs in the seventh in each outing.
Smith is fourth in the AMC in strikeouts with 51, just one a head of teammate James Ball who is fifth with 50, while his seven wins are tied for the fourth-most in the conference.
The closer Ball, who is tied for the lead in the AMC in saves with 10, needs just two more saves to tie Alex Cann's single-season saves record set back in the 2011 season. It's been a while since the closer has picked up a save, as his last one game back on April 12 against Missouri Baptist. Overall on the year, the Hillsboro, Mo., native is 5-1 with a 1.74 ERA, and has struck out 50 batters while walking only eight in 57 innings pitched.
Offensively, the Owls have been on a role of late, as they have collected 10 or more hits in five of their last six games. The outburst has helped WWU post the second-highest batting average in the conference with their .318 mark at the plate. The batting average is also the 25th-highest in NAIA.
Matt Thomas and Sam Moon each bring in a pair of hitting streaks into this final weekend of the regular season, as Thomas has it in seven straight games and Moon has posted a hit in the last six games.
For Benedictine University at Springfield, the come into this weekend's action on a four-game losing streak. The recent slump has caused the Bulldogs to slip all the way to fifth in the conference standings entering the final weekend of conference play.
At the plate BenU-Springfield is in the middle of the pack in the AMC, as they post a team batting average of .283, good enough for sixth-best in the conference. Drew Johnson leads the team with his .411 batting average, but because he has only made 73 plate appearances he does not qualify among the conference leaders.
Blake Gand's .370 batting average is the best among the team's qualifiers, as he has collected 40 hits in 108 at-bats. Ben Sigourney leads the team in home runs with five, while Travis Combs is the team's top RBI man with 34.
On the mound Benedictine-Springfield is also a middle of the road team, as its 4.62 ERA is the fifth-lowest in the AMC. Jordan Pesko is the team's top starter, as he posts a 6-3 record with a 3.38 ERA in 10 starts. Half of Pesko's starts have resulted in complete games, which has enabled him to throw 64 innings this season.
William Woods holds the all-time series lead 8-5 against the Bulldogs. The two teams met six times last season, with Benedictine-Springfield taking the most important games, as they swept a pair of games against the Owls in the AMC Tournament championship.
Check back with wwuowls.com for a full recap of each game in this weekend's series.
